Wriggling red worms in tap water have a number of Swartruggens residents in North West province up in arms, News24 reported on Tuesday.
It said the worms, between 1mm and 15mm long, appeared in the ”creamy white” water running from taps in homes on Monday morning.
Residents claimed the quality of the water started deteriorating in September last year.
But Jay Tulsee, manager of the Kgetleng River municipality, said residents were exaggerating. He said he and two other senior officers involved with water quality received only three complaints about the worms on Monday.
Koos Bisschoff of the local ratepayers association said municipal officials simply shrugged their shoulders when told of the problem on Monday morning.
The origin of the worms had not been determined by Monday afternoon.
Tulsee said the problem did not involve the whole town’s water. He said samples had been taken and sent away for testing.
Chadwick Lobakeng, the area director for the department of water affairs in North West province, suggested the municipality print pamphlets to warn people to boil water before use. He said another tip was to add domestic bleach.
News24 said the town’s sewerage plant was not coping with the growing number of residents, causing raw sewage to run into the Elands River. A proposed project to improve the sewerage system at a cost of R13-million had recently been submitted to the district municipality. – Sapa