An urgent solution is needed in Giyani, Limpopo, where the Nsami Dam is drying up, the IFP said on Monday.

“Water tanks and tankers need to be provided by the [Mopani district] municipality urgently to this area,” Inkatha Freedom Party MP Peter Smith said in a statement.

“The current situation… is terrible as the crisis has created water-related problems.”

He was responding to an article in the Sowetan newspaper, which reported that the local Nkhensani hospital was affected by the water crisis.

A nurse, who asked not to be named, told the newspaper that the hospital had not had water in three months.

“We can’t even wash newborn babies, and unfortunately most of them get discharged still covered in blood,” the nurse said.

“We are extremely worried, because infection control is compromised and there’s little we can do.”

Extracting water from mud

The hospital’s CEO did not comment.

Limpopo health department spokesperson Sinenhlanhla Gumede said the municipality needed to supply the hospital with water.

“Water is not a competency of the health department, so we are working closely with the municipality to ensure that we have sufficient water tank supplies while they try to solve the water crisis,” she said.

Mopani district municipality spokesperson Neil Shikwambani said the equipment needed to address the situation at the Nsami Dam was either broken or stolen.

He said the municipality wanted to extract water from the mud and purify it, but the pressure was too low.

“We are looking at using fixed water tanks to be located at specific spots… It’s a dire situation,” he told the Sowetan.

Smith said the provincial government needed to step up its efforts to provide a permanent solution.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Giyani-needs-water-solution-IFP-20121119