The Management of Guma Valley Water Company has issued a press release dispelling rumours of water contamination as a result of the recent mudslide and flood.
The release states, “the rumours making the rounds that following the devastating mudslide at Regent and other parts of the city, water supply to the city could pose a health threat…” are untrue.
Management assured “the General Public that the main Guma Dam at Mile 13, which supplies over 95% of the water to Freetown is intact and continues to supply safe water that has been satisfactorily treated and is fit for consumption.”
Management notes that “the current challenges that residents living at Regent, Gloucester, Leicester, Upper Mountain Cut area and Allen Town where Guma facilities and installations were affected are going through and want to assure them that work is on-going to restore water supply to these areas as soon as possible.”
“The widespread belief that corpses pose a major health risk is inaccurate. Especially if death resulted from trauma, bodies are very unlikely to cause outbreaks of diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera or plague though they may transmit gastroenteritis or food poisoning syndrome for survivors if they contaminate streams, wells or other water sources,” WHO reports.
In a earlier report, Dr. Alexander Chimbaru, Officer in Charge of WHO Sierra Leone said, “While the Government and WHO are working hard to strengthen health services in the affected areas, we also urge the population to take the following precautions to help avoid a possible outbreak: hand washing, drinking only water that has been properly boiled or treated, use of latrines for sanitation, and adherence to good food hygiene practices.”
OG/23/8/17
By Ophaniel Gooding
Thursday August 24, 2017.
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