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That's in the east of Victoria. They will continue to receive safe drinking water despite the closure of the local water treatment plant. The plant was shut down following reports of gastrointestinal illness or illnesses in this case linked to water contamination. Really horrible, horrible, completely avoidable story. So I understand. Well, with me is Professor Anya Duplesy, who's an expert in water management from the University of South Africa. Professor Duplessy, thanks for joining us. I said, surely avoidable.

Could it have been avoided? For sure. And good afternoon. The primary cause was prolonged chlorination failure. So what basically happened in the city of Tshwane, they've said to media and various reports that there was an issue with a chlorinate supplier, rising costs, and that posed a risk. But what actually happened in the background is that they did not chlorinate the water from the water treatment plant.

I do say Bronkhorstspruit. And consequently, they were supplying unchlorinated water, water that was not disinfected, to the residents of Bronkhorstspruit without even notifying anyone. They were supposed to notify the Department of Water and Sanitation immediately, and then after that, they should have issued a notice. All right. So now that it's happened, what are the big lessons to learn here? Because there are issues of health that somehow get swept.