‘Blantyre boreholes contaminated’

Blantyre District Health Office says borehole water in Blantyre City is putting the lives of thousands of urban dwellers at risk of diseases such as cholera.

In an interview on Tuesday, Blantyre chief preventive health officer Penjani Chunda said all boreholes within the city’s townships are contaminated with faeces and liquid from pit latrines finds its way into the boreholes.

He said this at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (Kuhes) on Thursday during a science café session as part of the university’s second research dissemination conference that among other topics, discussed the cholera outbreak.

“From the samples we collected from the boreholes in Blantyre we found out that they all had faecal contamination. We made a recommendation of shock treatment by dosing some amount of chlorine in the boreholes to destroy whatever faecal organisms that are down in the water,” said Chunda.

He, therefore, urged water users to at least treat water drawn from boreholes with chlorine before using it.

“The main thing is to avoid drilling boreholes in the towns. Boreholes have been a source of contamination,” said Chunda.

Kuhes Associate professor of microbiology Chisomo Msefula said there is need to implement strong hygiene measures to protect water from toilets from getting into rivers or boreholes.

Last year, Lilongwe Water Board also conducted a laboratory test of water in urban settings, including Area 36, Chinsapo and Matandire which showed that the water was contaminated with faecal coliform.

The World Health Organisation says at least 1.7 billion people globally are using water sources contaminated with faeces.