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Looks like more than half of our water systems are rocking top-notch microbiological quality, while 46% didn’t quite make the cut and got slapped with the ‘poor’ or ‘bad’ label in South Africa’s most recent Blue Drop Watch Report.

That essentially means that nearly half of the country’s municipalities are not complying with drinking water standards.

The report shows what Minister of the Department of Water and Sanitation [DWS] Senzo Mchunu describes as “a concerning decline in the performance of drinking water systems” in the country.

BusinessTech notes that the report investigated the current condition of drinking water infrastructure and treatment processes across 144 Water Services Authorities (WSA) that provide drinking water for domestic, commercial, and business use via water supply systems across South Africa’s nine provinces.

A total of 277 out of 958 (29%) water supply systems in the country have been identified as being in a critical state. This is a sharp increase from the 174 systems identified in 2014.

The situation is so dire that Dr Ferrial Adam, executive manager of citizen non-profit organisation WaterCAN, said, “While [the minister of DWS] seems reluctant to call the water situation a crisis, WaterCAN believes that this is indeed a crisis.”

Adam says that if nearly half of the country’s “municipalities are not complying with drinking water standards… [people] should not drink water from those systems without boiling it.” “Are they not letting people know that the water is contaminated? Surely that is a crime,” she added.

In Gauteng, nearly 14 million people rely on drinking water provided by the province’s nine WSAs, two water boards and 29 water supply systems, which performed well in the report, with no WSA or water supply system defined as being in a critical state. Ekurhuleni, Greater Johannesburg and Meyerton all received Blue Drop Certificates for their supply systems.

The lowest-scoring WSA in the province was Emfuleni LM, with a score of 85.9% (down from 88.2% in 2014), which is still defined as “fully functional” with minor improvements needed – a better rating than the top-performing municipalities in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo and Northern Cape.

KwaZulu-Natal provides drinking water to nearly 8.8 million residents and has 14 WSAs, with 172 water supply systems spread across the province. Of this, three Blue Drop Certificates were awarded for Dolphin Coast Ballito (Siza Water and Umgeni Water), Msunduzi LM, and uMgungundlovu DM.

Contrastingly, four WSAs (28.57%) are defined as being in a poor state, whilst 21 water supply systems (12.2%) are in a critical state. Umzinyathi DM WSA is less than 1% away from being labelled as critical.

Around 3.4 million people rely on drinking water in Limpopo, which has 10 WSAs with 84 water supply systems. Of this, 26 water supply systems (30.95%) and five WSAs (50%) were considered critical. No facility in the province was awarded a Blue Drop Certificate.

Only two WSAs (Bela-Bela LM and Vhembe DM) improved in their ratings from 2014. Notable drops include Lephalale LM (from 85.5% to 48.4%), Polokwane (from 92.5% – 56.2%), and Capricorn DM (70.9% – 38.1%).

In Mpumulanga, there are 17 WSAs, with 100 water supply systems providing drinking water to 4,770,957 people.

Four WSAs (23.53%) and 34 supply systems (34%) are determined to be in a critical state. In addition, four WSAs are in poor condition.

Contrastingly, four supply systems in the province received Blue Drop Certificates, namely, Karino Water Treatment Works, Matsulu, Nelspruit Supply System, and Primkop WTW – all of which are part of the Mbombela/Umjindi WSA.

In the North West, 10 WSAs and 39 water supply systems provide over 2.2 million residents in the province with drinking water. One supply system, Potchefstroom (which is part of JB Marks LM), received a Blue Drop Certificate.

Contrastingly, one WSA (10%) and seven water systems (17.95%) were defined as being in critical condition: Dr Ruth S Mompati DM, Kgetlengrivier LM and Ngaka Modiri Molema DM.

In the Northern Cape, the population of around 1.13 million rely on the 26 WSAs with 176 water supply systems which are in an overall poor state. No Blue Drop Certificates were awarded in the province.

Eighteen (69.23%) WSAs and 123 (69.88%) water supply systems have been found to be in a critical state. In some municipalities, all of the water supply systems have been flagged as critical.

Only two of 26 WSAs improved on their 2014 scores, namely: Kheis LM and Gamagara LM.

Adam said that “while the report brings bad news, WaterCAN applauds the Department of Water and Sanitation for delivering these reports”, welcoming the promises by the department to take action to improve the country’s water system overall.

[source:businesstech]