Municipal performance in providing good-quality drinking water across South Africa has deteriorated over the past five years, from 93 “good” water supply systems in 2021 to 59 in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was outlined in a recent Parliamentary response by the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, to questions posed to her by ActionSA MP Alan Beesley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) collects data on the drinking water compliance status of each municipality in the country, submitted through the Integrated Regulatory Information System, which ultimately determines the quality of drinking water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For water quality, DWS categorises municipal performance as poor, average, good, or excellent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the information provided by the minister, the performance of municipal water supply systems in the country over the past four years has been:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, DWS said that \u201cSouth Africa is facing a number of water challenges and concerns, which include security of supply, environmental degradation, resource pollution, and the inefficient use of water, which are all among the chief causes of the supply deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently released reports by DWS \u2014 including the Green<\/a>, Blue<\/a>, and No Drop<\/a> Reports \u2013 paint a concerning image of the current state of the provision of the essential resource, showing that at a countrywide average:<\/p>\n\n\n\nYear<\/strong><\/td> Bad<\/mark><\/strong><\/td> Poor<\/mark><\/strong><\/td> Good<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 2020<\/strong><\/td> 544<\/td> 39<\/td> 70<\/td><\/tr> 2021<\/strong><\/td> 502<\/td> 43<\/td> 93<\/td><\/tr> 2022<\/strong><\/td> 529<\/td> 53<\/td> 85<\/td><\/tr> 2023<\/strong><\/td> 535<\/td> 62<\/td> 78<\/td><\/tr> 2024<\/strong><\/td> 491<\/td> 57<\/td> 59<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \n