The Water Research Commission (WRC) has published a controversial report showing that one of Tshwane’s main water sources is heavily polluted with toxic chemicals, but it has apparently been ”doctored” on the orders of a Tshwane metro official.
The Mail & Guardian first reported in May on scientific findings which revealed that water in the Rietvlei Dam, which supplies a significant portion of the Tshwane metro, was seriously contaminated with chemicals that cause sexual mutations and long-term cancers.
The WRC, a scientific body that reports to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, tried to prevent the M&G from publishing the findings. After the article appeared, the then-WRC spokesperson, Yuven Gounden, criticised the newspaper for publicising a ”half-baked product” that needed to be verified by the department.
The WRC released the report last week, but references to Rietvlei Dam and Nature Reserve have been removed and it is simply titled Endocrine Disruptive Activity and Potential Health Risks in an Urban Nature Reserve. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that interfere with hormone production. They attack the nervous system and cause cancers.
The site of the research had been removed on the instructions of an unnamed Tshwane metro official, Beeld newspaper reported earlier this week.
Tessa Ernst, an ANC representative on the Tshwane mayoral committee, told the M&G she had launched an investigation to find out who was responsible. ”This is not a witch-hunt, but we need to find out if someone at the municipality influenced the WRC.”
Ernst said she was trying to get her hands on copies of both the original report and the ”doctored” version. The WRC director responsible for the report, Jay Bhagwan, was unavailable for comment at the time the M&G went to press.
The scientific report was based on a two-year study by a team of researchers from the WRC, the universities of Pretoria and Potchefstroom and the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research.
It warned that hormones in the Rietvlei Dam are ”at levels up to 10 000 times higher than those known to cause initiate activity in breast cancer cells — One can expect that untreated water used for domestic, agricultural or recreational activities would result in unacceptably high human health risks.”
The dam is on the southern edge of Tshwane, in one of the world’s largest urban nature reserves. It is fed by a stream that is polluted by effluent from sewage treatment plants, industries, agricultural activities and informal settlements in its catchment area.
Water from Rietvlei is blended with Rand Water and water from boreholes and springs for bulk distribution to an estimated 27% of the city. The report states that the water is being treated and the ”treated water is safe to use, provided that the process remains functional and there is no massive dumping of chemicals”.
If untreated water was used for domestic purposes, the report says, ”unacceptable health risks” could be anticipated. ”The greatest health concern would be if this water is used for irrigation of vegetables.”