WATER contamination from leaking pipes at Witvlei village is said to have caused a severe diarrohea outbreak, a health official at the village said.
Eveline Murangi, a nurse at the Witvlei clinic, said the health centre has been receiving an increasing number of diarrohea and vomiting cases since the beginning of May this year, which she suspects could be linked to contaminated water from underground pipes.
“The symptoms are being reported in both children and adults and we have not yet established the cause, but it might probably be due to water contamination or poor sanitation,” she said.
Murangi also said she could not estimate the number of cases the clinic has received so far, but she said complaints come almost everyday.
According to Murangi, the situation was so severe last month that health inspectors had to be called in from Gobabis to investigate the causes.
She, however, said she does not know what the inspectors’ findings were.
Murangi said the clinic does everything possible to send health workers from house to house educating residents on the importance of hygiene and washing hands.
The majority of Witvlei residents still use the bush as toilets because the settlement does not have a sewage system in place.
Residents who spoke to The Namibian said last year, the village council contracted Namibia Cleaning Chemicals Solutions for the laying of sewage pipes, but that the project came to a standstill for unknown reasons.
When The Namibian visited the village this week, large stones and pits that have been dug up as part of the sewage project were evident all over the village.
“The pits are a hazard to us and to our children. Sometimes the underground water pipes burst and flood the surrounding area. Our children play in this dirty water and they accidentally fall into the pits,” said resident Nora Nependa.
She further said there have been cases of children falling into the pits but luckily none suffered serious injuries.
Nependa attributed the diarrhoea outbreak in the community to the contamination problem, saying that they did not experience severe cases of diarrhea before the pits were dug.
Calls to the Omaheke chief health inspector, Elmarie Smit, proved futile yesterday.
Contacted for comment, Witvlei chairperson Livey van Wyk denied that the sewage development project in the town had come to a standstill.
“As far as I am concerned, NCCS is busy with this project and it has not come to a standstill as it is being alleged. You can call NCCS and confirm that for yourself,” she said.
Calls to the NCCS offices went unanswered yesterday.
