By Kuzeeko Tjitemisa
WINDHOEK – Gobabis residents are up in arms with the town’s municipality over the poor quality of water they have been receiving for the last two weeks.
Nossobville resident Matheus Brandt told New Era yesterday that most of the residents in the area are very disappointment with the quality of water they have been receiving lately.
“The water looks brownish and it has got things which look like small snakes in it. This can be very deadly, especially for small children,” he said.
Brandt said he does not want to blame anybody for the mess but all he wanted was the problem to be solved.
Scores of residents who New Era spoke to shared the same sentiment, some blaming the municipality for the mess.
“People [municipal officials] have been sleeping on duty, so it’s about time that they [are] taken to task,” said one frustrated resident, who refused to be named.
Residents said they started noticing the change in water during the second week of December.
“We have reported this to the town municipality numerous times but to date nothing has been done,” said Brandt.
Brandt called on the municipality and NamWater to come up with an amicable solution as soon as possible.
Contacted for comment yesterday, Gobabis Municipality spokesperson, Frederick Ueitele, told New Era that the municipality was aware of the problem and that measures have been put in to place by NamWater to address the issue.
“We had a meeting with all relevant stakeholders and residents have been inform what the problem was,” he said.
He said the problem was caused by natural phenomenon during the summer and especially at this time of the year where there are elevated levels of minerals such as iron and manganese in the source dam raw water.
Ueitele said NamWater has assured the municipality that the water at the NamWater plant that supplies water to Gobabis is 100 percent fit for human consumption and the water in the storage facility will be flushed out to get rid of the old water from the system.
“The situation is expected to be normal on 12 January,” he said, urging residents to be patient.
“We don’t have any water treatment plant and depend solely on NamWater,” he added.