The Breede Valley Municipality (BVM) issued a statement last week imploring residents rather to boil their drinking water before consuming it.

This statement was issued after the country was severely impacted on many levels due to ongoing rolling blackouts:

“Due to Eskom’s announcement of stage 6 load shedding, a boil-water notice is hereby issued to all towns throughout BVM with immediate effect. As previously communicated, water and wastewater treatment operations are adversely impacted during higher stages of load shedding,” spokesperson for BVM, Hannelie Botha, said.

However, treatment with chlorine to disinfect drinking water remains ongoing, even though the residual chlorine in the system may be depleted and disinfection efficiency could decrease during higher stages of load shedding (5 and above).

“As a precautionary measure, all Breede Valley residents must boil their drinking water to ensure the water is absolutely safe for consumption,” she said.

“BVM will continuously test and monitor the quality of the drinking water and inform residents when the water is safe for consumption to the degree where precautionary boiling is no longer required.”

Some residents complained they encountered incidents of tap water being yellowish in colour, especially after load shedding.

“It’s happened twice already,” Alfred Bishop from Worcester told Standard, “especially in the last week, when load shedding reached its peak. The tap water would come out yellow or brown.

“I grew up on a farm and know it does not always indicate that the water is dirty or infected, but one should never take a chance.”

The impact blackouts have on municipalities across the country are huge. BVM also recently reinstated water conservation measures to help ease the system, as pumps and treatment plants rely heavily on electricity.

The BVM issued these tips for boiling water:. Boil water for at least one minute to use for drinking purposes.. Let it cool down.. Store cold boiled drinking water in a clean food-grade container, which must then be covered.

An alternative disinfection method for water:. Household chlorine bleach kills most pathogens.. Do not use scented bleaches, colour-safe bleaches, bleaches with added cleaners or non-chlorine bleach.