Oudtshoorn’s water has been declared safe for human consumption, the municipality has confirmed.
Citizens can now drink directly from their taps and need not boil their water.
“The Outeniqua Laboratory Services confirmed today that there were no e.coli in the samples we submitted on Monday this week. The water is now safe for human consumption,” the Oudtshoorn municipality posted on their Facebook page.
Spokesperson of the municipality, Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe went into detail about the reservoirs.
“The E.coli count at one reservoir was 360 cfu / 100ml,” Mangqwengqwe said.
“The other four reservoirs were zero. The E.coli problem, therefore, did not originate from the Raubenheimer dam but was only present in the affected reservoir. As required by law, the drinking water is bacteriologically tested every two weeks.”
“However, we could not get an open space at the reservoir that is big enough for a dove or mouse to land in the water. We are now also looking at the sampling procedure and whether there could not be an error resulting in high reading. Samples taken must be kept cold and analyzed within 24 hours.”
The municipality previously urged citizens to boil their water before consumption after high levels of bacteria were found in Oudtshoorn’s water supply on Monday.
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