WATER DELCARE UNFIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION IN NAMIBIA

The Tsumeb municipality is conducting a test on the town’s water supply after Dundee Precious Metals issued a warning that the town’s water is unfit for human consumption.

In an internal communication on Monday, Dundee managing director Zebra Kasete warned the company’s employees and contractors that microbiological quality assessment had detected that the Tsumeb water is not fit for human consumption.

“To mitigate the situation, we have secured a sanitary water supply for our employees onsite, while also engaging with Tsumeb municipality on how they can restore the microbiological quality of the town’s supply,” said Kasete.

He added that the company is in the process of procuring potable water from a local supplier.

Company spokesperson Aline Garises said no employee has shown signs of any illness to date.

“No one has reported any symptoms of stomach cramps or diarrhoea to the onsite clinic or EMed Services in the last few weeks and no reports have been received since yesterday’s internal memo,” she said. Garises could not explain the microbiological content of the water.

“Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb draws quarterly samples for biological analysis and routine monitoring and sends this to an external certified laboratory. The water results were out of specification and the Tsumeb municipality officials responsible for water provision were engaged and the results of the sampling were shared with them too,” she said.

Tsumeb mayor Mathew Hangula said the council is conducting its test because it does not know where Dundee draws its samples from.

“They are using low water at the mine and we are also pumping water from one of our dams. What we could not establish, and Dundee can also not explain to us, is where they draw those samples from?” said Hangula, asked

He said it was premature for Dundee to state without engaging the town council.

Hangula confirmed they have not received any complaints from the public and private hospitals in the town. The municipality spokesperson Stella Imalwa has in the meantime asked the public not to panic and advised the residents to boil water before consumption.

 

SOURCE: The Namibian

Leave a Comment