A team of 100 “citizen scientists” will test water across the country as part of a five-day project using volunteers.
The national water-testing week campaign is led by WaterCAN, an initiative of Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), and is scheduled to run from September 14 to 18 in spots including Cape Town, Gqeberha, Isipingo, Durban, Johannesburg, Pretoria, West Rand, Vaal river and Bloemfontein.
WaterCAN has supplied volunteers with iLAB testing kits to assess more than 10 drinking water parameters that include a metals test and an E.coli test.
Volunteers will test water in sources in their area. This could be a stream, river, dam or tap water.
“This is only the beginning of our path to monitor and track the quality of our water supplies from taps, rivers and boreholes. We want to expand the project so we have thousands of people regularly testing our water. Where there are concerns, we need to act fast and use our activism to hold those responsible accountable,” said Dr Ferrial Adam, WaterCAN manager.
“SA’s water resources are in a dire state and require all of us to become water guardians to monitor and protect this precious resource. As we move forward, we need people to be our eyes, ears and voices on the ground to monitor and protect water and hold those responsible accountable.”
WaterCAN called on municipalities and water utilities such as Rand Water to test routinely for harmful chemicals in drinking water and make the results public.
Adam said South Africans need to trust the water they are drinking.
“We demand transparency on water quality so polluters can be held accountable.”
The organisation said more volunteers can take part in the water testing campaign. Information can be found on its website www.watercan.org.za.
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