atlantic seaboard water

Residents in areas like Sea Point, Fresnaye and Camps Bay along the Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town have been told that municipal water has been declared safe to drink. Photo: file.

Cape Town alert: City declare Atlantic Seaboard water now ‘safe to drink’

The City said that the issue with the Atlantic Seaboard water may relate to trace amounts of a “nuisance compound with no health impact”.

atlantic seaboard water

Residents in areas like Sea Point, Fresnaye and Camps Bay along the Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town have been told that municipal water has been declared safe to drink. Photo: file.

After conducting “extensive sampling” on municipal water supplied to Cape Town’s CBD and areas along the Atlantic Seaboard over the past 48 hours, the City has confirmed that tap water is “safe to drink”. 

This follows the release on Wednesday of a precautionary water advisory urging residents in the densely populated Cape Town suburbs such as Sea Point, Fresnaye, Camps Bay and the CBD not to drink, or even boil, the supplied resource after numerous complaints of a strange odour and metallic taste were levelled. 

The City said on Friday that the sampling revealed “no health risks in the distribution system”, and said that the water is “therefore safe to drink”.

Water poses ‘no health risk’ to Atlantic Seaboard residents

The Department of Water and Sanitation said in a statement that the issue was possibly the result of trace amounts of 2-Methylisoborneol (MIB), which they said is a “nuisance compound with no health impact”. 

They said that this is produced by certain types of algae, which are at times present in the City’s dams, and said that it’s is possible that rainfall on earlier this week “mobilised algal porticles along the natural water course between the Woodhead Dam and transfer tunnel”. 

“Powdered activated carbon is routinely used to remove taste and odour when these issues are noticed at the plant, however in this case, no smell or taste was noticed by staff on site, and laboratory analysis was required to confirm the presence of MIB. Some residents’ palates are however very sensitive to even microscopic changes in the composition of the water.”

City apologises for inconvenience caused

They apologised for any inconvenience caused to residents in the affected areas while the system was checked for possible non-compliance. Standpipes were placed in various locations in Sea Point on Thursday night for residents to collect safe drinking water.

“Residents are assured that every effort has been made to expedite the investigation and restore normality, however some of the tests conducted take about 24 hours to yield results,” they said. 

“It was also necessary in this case for a wide area to be sampled before assurance could be given that water is safe to consume.”

They added that if residents believe there is something wrong with their drinking water, they should reported the issue to 0860 103 089 as soon as possible, so that it can be investigated.