Water samples of the Msunduzi River taken during the TCTA Heritage Day clean-up show E.coli levels 400 times higher than the range deemed a risk to public health!
On 22nd September, TCTA hosted a Msunduzi River clean-up and water-quality testing in recognition of Heritage Day 2023. Working in collaboration with triple-P, Hennops Revival, Msunduzi Municipality and the community of Pietermaritzburg, the aim was to highlight the critical importance of rivers as part of our heritage and our future.
During this event, the triple-P team took water samples to ascertain the health of the river and the key contributors to the pollution. These results revealed the extremely poor health of the sampled section of Msunduzi River, primarily due to contamination from sewer waste.
The results show E.Coli of 100,000 counts/100ml – which is 250 times higher than the 400 counts/100ml level that is noted as unacceptable and set to pose a significant risk to public health. The strong and unpleasant odour emanating from the river supported these findings, as did the physical presence of raw sewage.
Escherichia coli (E.coli), is an indicator of faecal pollution, most often assumed to be human faecal pollution. E. coli is commonly used to assess the quality of wastewater effluents, river water, seawater at bathing beaches, raw water for drinking water supply, treated drinking water, water used for irrigation and aquaculture, and recreational waters. The presence of faecal pollution may suggest the existence of pathogens that are responsible for infectious diseases such as gastroenteritis, salmonellosis, dysentery, cholera, and typhoid fever.
These results form part of a report submitted to the Msunduzi Municipality on the health of the river, but more importantly are being used by triple-P to help the community in the area understand what it means when rivers are polluted or contaminated.
“It is our experience that most communities have not been exposed to the real meaning behind terms like pollution. Educating people into what it means to have E.coli in their water, what it means for their environment, and how it impacts their health is critical in working towards community care and ownership of these space,” explains triple-P director Ntswaki Dithlale.
Read more about education and activating people in the protection of the planet in the triple-P approach
