Africa-Press – Namibia. NEARLY a month after it was reported by the Dundee Precious Metals mine that Tsumeb’s water is not fit for human consumption, the town’s municipality says that it is still awaiting lab results on the situation and is facing technical delays in this regard.
In the meanwhile, the residents are still encouraged to boil water or use solar energy to cleanse the water. In a statement yesterday, Tsumeb’s municipality said that the town’s key stakeholders continue to assess the quality of water in Tsumeb.
Tsumeb Municipality Spokesperson, Stella Emalwa, explained that although the first notice of the water contamination was made on 15 December 2022, by Dundee, the municipality opted to conduct its own tests and collect samples from all the town’s boreholes. She added that these results are however not out yet due to a lack of access to some laboratories which she said were closed for the festive season.
Tsumeb Municipality, CEO, Victoria Kapenda and Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb Managing Director, Zebra Kasete and team on Friday, 6 January 2023, engaged on all possibilities to ensure Tsumeb’s best water quality status.
They after this consultation came up with another method for water disinfection (called SoDis) which entails using solar energy to make water contaminated with bacteria, viruses, protozoa and worms safe to drink.
This involves pouring water into clear plastic bottles and placing them in the sun which can kill diseases causing organisms, in about six hours.
Dundee initially reported that during its routine water sampling process, it established that the water is not fit for human consumption based on a microbiological quality assessment. The mine conducts a quarterly routine sampling of their drinking water onsite which is supplied from the Municipal reservoir.
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