Water and Sanitation on safety of Hammanskaal water

Following recent media reports of poor drinking water quality in Hammanskraal, on 14 February 2025, an urgent meeting was convened by the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo, Executive Mayor of City of Tshwane, Cllr. Nasiphi Moya and Magalies Water to clarify the situation regarding a water supply interruption that led to temporary turbidity in the drinking water in Hammanskraal. 

The meeting confirmed that the water is now safe to drink. It was agreed that officials from the City and Magalies Water would meet weekly to ensure proper coordination and timeous and clear communication to the public regarding any water supply disruptions. Magalies Water experienced a power failure at its Klipdrift Water Treatment Works on Tuesday 4 February 2025. This was due to a severe storm that affected the mini-substation which provides electricity to the Water Treatment Works.

The damage to the min-substation required that a new mini-substation be procured, installed and commissioned. Magalies Water concluded this process on Saturday 8 February 2025. After the electricity supply was restored, the plant was restarted immediately. As a result of the downtime of the water treatment plant caused by the damage to the electricity substation, the reservoirs and reticulation system were empty and dry for a considerable amount of time. 

This downtown affected the areas of Mandela Village, Marokolong, Ramotse, Kekana Gardens (Steve Bikoville), Kudube Unit 9, Babelegi Industrial and Bridgeview informal settlement. When the system was restarted on 8 February 2025, it took time to recover and the City of Tswhane and Magalies Water had to conduct testing and flushing of the system to get air out of the supply pipelines. Water quality in the system is monitored continuously. 

On 11 February it was found that there was some turbidity in the water, which could have been caused by settled sediments as a result of the system having been dry for a period of time. All other parameters (apart from turbidity) complied with the SANS 241:2015 drinking water quality standard. 2 Subsequent tests and further flushing of the distribution system were conducted on 13 February, and the results indicated that there was no non-compliance on any water quality parameters. The water in the system continues to be compliant to SANS 241:2015 and safe for human consumption. 

Magalies Water’s highly advanced ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited Scientific Services Laboratory and its staff continuously monitor water quality in the system. Rigorous monitoring protocols are implemented and informed by a risk-based approach that adheres to regulatory frameworks. Both the City of Tshwane and Magalies Water supported by DWS will continue taking samples and assessing water quality in Hammanskraal and the City of Tshwane will continue to provide updates to residents accordingly.

Residents are advised to avoid relying on misinformation from social media, which is often unverified and to make use of official notifications published by the City of Tshwane. Background The Hammanskraal community under the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality had been without piped drinking water for over a decade, despite the upgrade of Temba Water Treatment Plant to a capacity of 120 megalitres a day (ML/d). 

This was due to the dysfunctionality of the City’s Rooiwal Wastewater Treatment Works, which has been discharging insufficiently treated wastewater into the Apies River, which in turn flows into the Leeukraal Dam. The Wastewater Treatment Works is situated upstream of Hammanskraal and has polluted the Leeukraal Dam, where the Temba Water Treatment Works abstracts water for treatment and distribution to residents in Hammanskraal. 

As a result, the City has been providing potable water to affected communities who were initially supplied by the Temba Water Treatment Plant, through mobile water tankers. In order to enable the residents of Hammanskraal to obtain clean drinking water from their taps, DWS appointed Magalies Water Board to construct a 50 megalitre package plant (water treatment works) which comes in four modules or phases of 12.5 mega liters of treated water. 

Phase 1 (the first 12.5 megaliters module) was completed and launched by the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina in November 2024. Completion of the other 3 phases will be following in March, May and July 2025. The package plant is currently operating properly and is providing water to portions of Hammanskraal. 

Communities are urged to continue using water sparingly as South Africa is a water scarce country. 

Enquiries:
Department/Ministry of Water and Sanitation
Cornelius Monama
Cell: 083 271 0808

Magalies Water 
David Magae
Cell: 082 761 3456

City of Tshwane
Selby Bokaba
Cell: 082 778 0245

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