The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) says tap water in Free State remains safe to drink despite a cholera outbreak in the Ngwathe Local Municipality.

The department said it had conducted water quality tests on all the sources of drinking water and had looked into reports by AfriForum that the Vaal River was contaminated with cholera.

"The analyses indicate that treated water reticulated to taps in the area complies with SANS 241 quality requirements and is therefore suitable for human consumption," it said.

"It must be noted that the point in the Vaal River where AfriForum apparently took a sample of water and found the cholera bacterium is in close proximity to a sewage-spilling manhole that is flowing into the Vaal River. 

"It is, therefore, not surprising that raw water from that part of the river tested positive for cholera."

Officials from the department were in the process of issuing a directive to the municipality to stop the pollution from the manhole.

One person has died from cholera in the Free State, while at least 80 have presented at clinics in Parys and surrounding areas with diarrhoeal infections.

Twenty-three people have succumbed to cholera in Hammanskraal in Gauteng, with almost 230 patients having been treated at the Jubilee District Hospital since 15 May.

The source of the outbreak in Hammanskraal has yet to be determined, but the department said it was most likely being caused by pollution of water sources in the area from the City's Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Works upstream of Hammanskraal.

An investigation is under way into the source or sources of the cholera outbreak in the area.

The department said it was tracking and tracing infections and that it was important to note that cholera was not only spread through polluted water, but also through poor hygiene, eating contaminated food, or coming into contact with the faeces of an infected person.

To date, the original source of the cholera infection has not been located.

'Water in the dam is so polluted'

"The Rooiwal Waste Water Treatment Works is polluting the Apies River, which flows into the Leeukraal Dam from which water is abstracted by the City’s Temba Water Treatment Works," the department said.

"The Temba Water Treatment Works is supposed to clean the raw water abstracted from the dam and treat it so that it is fit for human consumption.

The department said, "However, the water in the dam is so polluted that the Temba Water Treatment Works is not able to treat the water such that it meets the required standards for drinking water."

"However, tests on the water from the Temba Water Treatment Works indicate that it does not contain cholera bacteria and that it can be used for other purposes such as personal hygiene, dishwashing and washing of clothes.

"For this reason, the City of Tshwane is using water tankers to supply the residents of Hammanskraal within the supply area of the Temba Water Treatment Works with drinking water."

According to the department, water from the Temba Water Treatment Works only supplies the Hammanskraal area in Tshwane.

"Gauteng residents may be assured that they can continue to consume water from their taps as long as their municipalities continue to indicate that the water being provided meets the requirements," it said.