WaterCAN calls on municipalities to warn the public about contaminated tap water

WaterCAN calls on municipalities to warn the public about contaminated tap water

11 municipalities across six provinces consistently failing water quality tests without alerting residents

Picture: Shutterstock

The Blue Drop Report released in 2023 highlights the fact that at least 46% of drinking systems don’t comply with microbiological standards. According to the regulations under the Water Services Act, it is mandatory for a municipality to inform users if it repeatedly finds water quality does not meet basic standards.

“We are not seeing enough boil-water notices to match the situation reflected in the Blue Drop Report. This is illegal and it puts people’s lives at risk,” says Dr Ferrial Adam, pointing out that it is unlikely that the problems of water quality recorded in the report have all been resolved.

“Why are the municipalities not issuing notices warning residents to boil water in unsafe areas?”

According to the process that needs to be followed, every failure (that is presence of E.coli or bacteria in drinking water) must trigger an investigation and another test must be done. In cases where the resample is taken and failure is confirmed, an advisory notice (or boil-water notice) must be publicly issued to alert users to the quality of the drinking water.

WaterCAN has established that 11 municipalities in six provinces are repeat offenders in that they have  E.coli failures and should be issuing boil-alert notices. These are water service authorities that had consistent failures and most were repeats in the past three to six months. The following are the repeat offenders:

  • City of Tshwane, Gauteng
  • Blue Crane Local Municipality, Eastern Cape
  • Alfred Nzo District Municipality, Eastern Cape
  • Chris Hani LM, Eastern Cape
  • Masilonyana LM, Free State
  • Ngwathe LM, Free State
  • Thaba Chweu LM, Mpumalanga
  • Thembisile Hani LM, Mpumalanga
  • Kgetlengrivier LM, North West
  • Siyancuma LM, Northern Cape
  • Pixley ka Seme DM, Northern Cape

“These are definitely not the only municipalities in the country that have failed water quality tests. It is therefore imperative that municipalities make their monthly tests publicly available. People have the right to know the quality of the water that they are drinking,” says Adam.

There are also challenges in the City of Johannesburg, where there have been isolated cases of communal taps that have shown failures, which were subsequently addressed. In addition, the municipality has faced a shortage of micro-sampling bottles that affected timeous testing. The lack of water has also affected the City’s ability to test water.

While the focus for the past months has been on access to water and maintenance of infrastructure, we cannot lose sight of the water quality challenges. WaterCAN repeats its call for transparent information and for water test results to be made publicly available.

More information

A soundclip with comment by WaterCAN Executive Manager Ferrial Adam is here.

About WaterCAN:https://www.outa.co.za/web/content/301773
WaterCAN is a dedicated environmental organisation committed to preserving and protecting South Africa’s water resources. With a mission to promote responsible water management and raise awareness about water quality, the organisation empowers communities to become proactive stewards of their local water sources. If you would like to support our work, kindly Donate Here.