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The Democratic Alliance says its concerned at a report that e-coli had been detected in the tap water of several hospitals in Nelson Mandela Bay.
DA MP, Kevin Mileham, says this emerged during a meeting of a Nelson Mandela Bay portfolio committee last week.
The DA on Monday also released its findings of an independent survey of the water quality in four provinces undertaken over the past four months.
Mileham, who hails from the Eastern Cape and is the DA spokesperson on Water and Sanitation, says the problem areas are all over the Eastern Cape are all over.
"Obviously there's an issue with bucket toilets but equally the water availability of water in Makana and last week we had a report in the Standing Committee on Public Health in Nelson Mandela Bay that there was e-coli coming out of the taps in certain hospitals," said Mileham.
"So, the water quality issue widespread and it's from very large municipalities to very small municipalities and the impact on public health is enormous," he added.
Meanwhile, Mileham agrees that while the vast majority of South Africans are receiving clean and reliable water, he says there are problems which appear to be getting worse.
"96% of South Africans do have access to municipal water that is of a good standard. However, what we are seeing is that municipalities are taking less care in the way they're handling their effluent, their sewerage and we're seeing that municipalities are not taking adequate care in the way they management effluent and as a result our water sources are becoming contaminated," Mileham said.
