The Blue Drop Watch Report: in numbers

The Blue Drop Watch Report focuses on the current condition of drinking water infrastructure and treatment processes from a technical perspective. This report is published prior to the release of the Blue Drop Report 2023 Report and comprises a technical overview of the country’s drinking water supply.

THE BLUE DROP WATCH REPORT COMPRISES:

144 water service authorities (WSAs) provide drinking water for domestic, commercial and business use via 1 186 water supply systems (WSSs). There are 1067 registered water supply areas, managed by 144 WSAs and supported by 26 water service providers (WSPs, including water boards)

Largest plant: design capacity of 4 800 Mℓ/day

Average plant: design capacity of 63.3 Mℓ/day

Smallest plant: design capacity

0.001 Mℓ/day

1) Technical site assessment (TSA) scores: Physical appearance of terrains and buildings, raw water abstraction and delivery networks, treatment plants, chemical handling, water processing units, bulk delivery systems, and distribution pump stations and pipe network.

2) VROOM: The Very Rough Order Of Measurement (VROOM) provides an estimate of funding required to restore existing treatment infrastructure to its original design capacity and operations, by addressing civil, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation defects.

3) DWQ: Drinking water quality (DWQ) compliance is measured against the requirements of SANS 241: 2015 and is reported in terms of the microbiological and chemical quality of drinking water (IRIS, 28 March 2023).

NUMBER OF WSAS AND SUPPLY SYSTEMS PER PROVINCE THAT WERE AUDITED IN THE BLUE DROP AUDITS OF 2022 TO 2023

Drinking water quality analyses indicate that 38% and 11% of systems achieve excellent and good microbiological quality, respectively, while the balance of 51% have poor to bad microbiological water quality status

Tsas

An average TSA score of 69% was achieved for the 151 systems assessed, which indicates that infrastructure and processes are on average ‘partially functional with an average performance’.

The report highlights that the majority of WTWs do not produce SANS 241 compliant water

Provinces

Out of 151 WSSs:

• 128 (85%) is found to be in ‘average, good and excellent’ condition

• 23 (15%) is found to be in ‘poor and critical’ condition

The best overall performing WSSs are found in Gauteng, followed by the Western Cape and Eastern Cape.

The worst overall performing WSSs are located in the Free State, Limpopo, Northern Cape and North West.

Vroom

The associated VROOM costs needed to restore and refurbish dysfunctional systems amount to almost R1.5 billion , with the bulk of investment needed for the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.

Access to safe and reliable drinking water is embedded in our Constitution and we want to protect consumers from potentially unsustainable and unsafe services. We want to raise the standard requirements of our water services institutions and to ensure that we strive for excellence in these fields. We recognise that this requires partnerships and are encouraged by the support from

Water Quality

This is the most concerning finding from this report. It highlights that the majority of WTWs do not produce SANS 241 compliant water, irrespective of their TSA condition and performance. The lack of water quality monitoring is alarming, as WSIs cannot operate and improve water services and quality if they do not know their basic status.

Drinking water quality analyses indicate that 38% and 11% of systems achieve excellent and good microbiological quality, respectively, while the balance of 51% has poor to bad microbiological water quality status.

Chemical compliance analyses show that 16% and 14% have excellent and good water quality, respectively, while the vast majority of plants fail to achieve chemical compliance (71%).

13 WSSs have no reported water quality data or no data has been uploaded or available at the time of the audit to enable analysis on compliance (four in the Free State, one each in Gauteng and Limpopo, three in Mpumalanga, and four in Northern Cape).

Lack of monitoring or information automatically translates to zero compliance.

Minister of Water and Sanitation

Senzo Mchunu