Pretoria Water Crisis: Over 400 Children Suffer After Tap Water Contamination

Wed Oct 21 2026 16:24:24 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Pretoria residents are advised not to drink tap water after over 400 people, mainly children, fall ill with E. coli and other pathogens.

More than 400 people, almost all children under four, have become ill after drinking contaminated tap water in Tshwane, the area that includes Pretoria. Authorities found high levels of E. coli and other pathogens such as norovirus, campylobacter, and shigella in the local supply. Despite no deaths yet, officials urge residents to use water only for flushing toilets and to discard stored water. Clean water tankers have been dispatched while health departments warn people to disinfect containers with bleach.

Pretoria Water Crisis: Over 400 Children Suffer After Tap Water Contamination

Residents living near South Africa's capital have been advised not to drink or cook with tap water after more than 400 people fell ill with stomach cramps and diarrhoea, mostly children under four.

The cases were reported to local hospitals over a two‑week period with high levels of E. coli found in the water supply. No deaths have been reported, but the infection was linked to a local water treatment facility that services several townships east of Pretoria.

This is not the first outbreak in Tshwane. In 2023 a cholera outbreak killed 29 people in a township outside Pretoria, and in 2025 an unknown source caused 48 typhoid cases in the same region.

Lab tests detected norovirus, campylobacter, shigella, and other pathogen strains that cause gastrointestinal illness, while no cholera bacteria were found in the latest investigations.

Officials state that the water is unfit for human consumption and advise residents to use clean water only for toilets. Tankers have been deployed to provide safe drinking water, and stored water should be discarded and containers disinfected with household bleach.

By Khanyisile Ngcobo | Reporting from Johannesburg 32 minutes ago