Partner and principal environmental scientist Manda Hinsch at consulting engineers and scientists SRK Consulting says the quality of drinking water declines when infrastructure is vulnerable to natural disasters.
The comment was made on the back of recent flood-related damage to water infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal, which has added to South Africa’s water quality risks and highlights the need for greater resilience of treatment plants, pipes, and drains.
She adds a key challenge comes from the proliferation of algae that develop from increased levels of nutrients in watercourses and dams.
“High nutrient levels in rivers and dams – measured by the presence of nitrogen and phosphates – promote the growth of blue-green algae-type, which are not algae at all, but types of bacteria called cyanobacteria,” says Hinsch.
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