Polluted tap water in Mariannhill, outside Durban, is responsible not only for dozens of people suffering chronic stomach problems, but now, probably, also for the death of a woman who died from a severe bout of diarrhoea.
Her family and scores of community members are wondering if she might still be alive had municipal officials acted faster to warn them about and rectify the source of polluted tap water in the area, reports Tony Carnie in the Daily Maverick.
Sick and dehydrated, Rashnie Baijnath (38) died on her way to hospital on 10 August, leaving behind her husband, Suraj, and two children — an 18-month-old daughter and a son (17).
Dozens of inhabitant of the Mariannhill/Birchwood area have diarrhoea, believed to be due to drinking tap water polluted in the aftermath of widespread water and sewerage infrastructure collapses in Durban during the April floods.
In response to questions from the Daily Maverick after the death of Baijnath, eThekwini Municipality confirmed on 19 August that tap water in the Birchwood area, west of the city, “does not meet acceptable standards for human consumption”. It also advised residents to boil water for at least a minute before drinking it or when using it for food preparation.
eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Lindiwe Khuzwayo said the the only affected area is Birchwood, near Mariannhill – not the city as a whole.
Nevertheless, wastewater treatment works, pump stations and pipelines are still not working in several parts of the city, leaving a noticeable stench in the air around several low-lying areas, riverbanks and lagoons.
Riverside Road in Durban North is one such area: large expanses of decomposing sewage effluent are spread along the banks of the Umgeni River, about 2km from where it enters the sea and the city’s northern beaches. Recent independent water testing in this area by the Adopt a River citizen group and Talbot Laboratories revealed alarming levels of sewage bacteria, including readings of more than 38m E. coli CFU/100ml.
Public warning
On 26 July, the city issued a public warning that water in Dassenhoek/Birchwood Park was “not of good quality” and advised affected residents to boil water before drinking it.
But two weeks later, Khuzwayo issued a second “all-clear” statement advising that water in the area was once more safe for human consumption.
“Repairs to water infrastructure have been completed and specialists conducted follow-up tests to ascertain the quality of water. The results confirmed that the water is safe for consumption,” she said in a statement on 8 August.
But it was too late for Baijnath. She was already seriously ill and en-route to St Mary’s Hospital, Mariannhill, on 10 August. A medical certificate issued by the hospital described the immediate/final cause of her death as “diarrhoea”.
A week after the municipality’s initial all-clear statement, the city has again confirmed the water in this area is not safe to drink.
Officials are “investigating sources of contamination and have so far identified and cleared some pipeline blockages, which has reduced the level of contamination”.
In Greyville Road, a mother showed us a notice from the Mariannpark Primary School, dated 16 August, confirming eThekwini had advised the school to shut off the water supply pending further safety tests by the Water & Sanitation Department. The notice said pupils should not return to school until the water had been “tested and guaranteed as safe”.
The resident said tap water supply had been intermittent for weeks and often “really smelly”, and that several residents had diarrhoea.
Another mother said the problems started soon after the April floods, with intermittent supply followed by tap water that was “smelling like sewage”.
One woman, from Candy Street in Madiba Valley, said she had a rash all over her body after bathing in contaminated tap water, while her children did not go to school on Friday because of runny stomachs.
“My neighbour has four children. For two weeks their stomachs have been running and they are now losing weight. My skin is red and itchy all over. I went to Nagina Clinic for treatment, but it did not help.”
The Daily Maverick tried to contact senior officials at the Nagina Clinic and St Mary’s Hospital to find out if there had been an unusual increase in diarrhoea or other gastrointestinal cases reported in recent weeks, but was referred to provincial Health Department spokesperson Agiza Hlongwane. He did not respond to our queries on whether there was a confirmed correlation between tap water and diarrhoea.
Suraj Baijnath, whose wife died from diarrhoea complications on 10 August, said tap water was contaminated about a month ago and the family had boiled their water or relied on donations of bottled water from the Gift of the Givers and other neighbourhood charity groups.
“When the municipality released it again to our taps we assumed it was purified. My wife drank some without boiling it and her stomach started running. We took her to hospital on Monday (8 August) and they gave her antibiotics and rehydration solution. On Wednesday, we took her again, but it was too late. She passed away before reaching St Mary’s.”
An Acorn Street resident said he told a senior eThekwini official about Baijnath’s death on the day she died, but no one from the city had visited the family to inquire officially about her death – though tap water samples had been collected for analysis.
No warnings broadcast
“Up to now, there are no notices on streets that the water is not safe to drink. Nor have any warnings been broadcast by loudspeakers in the affected community,” he said on 19 August.
In response to queries, the city said: “The public is advised that water testing has revealed that tap water in the Birchwood area does not meet acceptable standards for human consumption.
“Following remedial work last month to eradicate suspected contamination, the results for water quality in this area have always come out safe for consumption… tests have (now) revealed that potable water is no longer of good quality. The municipality is investigating sources of contamination and has identified and cleared some pipeline blockages, reducing the level of contamination. The only area affected is Birchwood and not nearby areas or the entire city.”
On what measures eThekwini was taking to adequately warn and notify all residents of this risk to their health, the city said: “We post alerts on social media .. We also use mainstream and community media. Most importantly, we also do loudhailing directly in communities.”
While the exact reasons for the recent contamination in the Mariannhill/Birchwood area have not been given, the US Environmental Protection Agency (Usepa) has suggested cross-connections and backflow can result in polluted tap water.
“Within distribution systems there exist points called cross-connections where non-potable water can be connected to potable sources. These cross-connections can provide a pathway for backflow of non-potable water into potable sources,” Usepa said in a briefing published in 2001.
“Backflow can occur either because of reduced pressure in the distribution system (termed back-siphonage) or the presence of increased pressure from a non-potable source (termed backpressure). Back-siphonage may be caused by a variety of circumstances, such as main breaks, flushing, pump failure, or emergency firefighting water drawdown. During incidents of backflow, chemical and biological contaminants have caused illness and deaths. The number of incidents actually reported is believed to be a small percentage of the total number of backflow incidents in the United States.”
Public health risk
Usepa said an investigation of cross-connections and backflow dating back to 1970 showed that these incidents represented a significant public health risk.
“Although a wide range of contaminants have been reported (including sewage, pesticides, coolants, and detergents) the number of contamination incidents is considered a likely underestimate due to problems in detecting, reporting, and documenting incidents.
“These problems include: an inability to detect incidents without health effects; incidents with health effects that are unreported because affected individuals do not realise a connection between their illness and the drinking water; no requirement on either health officials or water system officials to report detected backflow incidents; and no central repository for reported illness.”
Earlier this month, the DA issued a public statement, urging the eThekwini Water and Sanitation Department to conduct further water quality testing around the city after growing reports of contaminated water in the municipality.
The DA said it had also raised questions regarding the persistent failure of several sewer systems, compromised potable water quality and clarity on the state of water tankers across the city.
“eThekwini’s water and sanitation unit has been haemorrhaging for years and the city still seems unfazed by this ecological and health disaster, which plagues thousands of ratepayers.”
On 10 August, the city issued a statement that said “significant progress has been made to restore sewer pipes in areas where wastewater treatment plants and sanitation infrastructure were severely damaged during the April floods.
“The damaged infrastructure included broken sewer mains, overflowing sewer manholes, blocked sewer lines, and washed away sewer pipes. This resulted in some of the city’s beaches being closed due to the high levels of E. coli in the water.
“We are … doing our best to ensure water and sewer-related matters are addressed urgently,” said Water and Sanitation unit chief Ednick Msweli.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
MSF assist as thousands struggle for access to water after KZN’s floods
KZN floods: 318 autopsies, 80 healthcare facilities damaged, fears of disease
NICD: No evidence that municipal water is source of typhoid outbreak