Richards Bay – President Jacob Zuma has called for an urgent end to water contamination, saying that spillage of sewage into South Africa’s water supplies would lead to water being undrinkable.

“We must deal with the spillage of sewage into our water supplies and other forms of contamination. If we don’t deal with it urgently, our water will end up undrinkable because of the high levels of contamination,” Zuma said.

Speaking at the inauguration of the upgraded Nsezi water treatment plant in Richards Bay on Saturday, he said Eskom’s problems had taught the government the importance of addressing future problems before they happened. “The challenge we still need to address includes an ability by some municipalities to roll out infrastructure, and to operate, maintain and rehabilitate water and sanitation infrastructure.” – Sapa