Blue Drop for Joburg

The national government has given Joburg’s tap water the thumbs up. It scored almost 100 percent in this year’s Blue Drop report.
JOBURG residents can be assured that they are drinking the best water in the country, after the city scored 98.92 percent in this year’s Blue Drop report. The Blue Drop certification system awards South African municipalities that have the best water quality.

Blue Drop CertificationAddressing the Water Institute of Southern Africa Conference on 7 May, the minister of water and environmental affairs, Edna Molewa, said 98 municipalities were awarded Blue Drop Status this year, up from last year’s 66. The average national Blue Drop status score jumped from 72.9 percent last year to 87.6 percent this year.

The scores have increased year-by-year since the first Blue Drop report was released in 2009, when municipalities jagged up a national average of 51.4 percent. In all, 153 of the country’s 287 municipalities and 931 water systems were audited for this year’s report.

She explained that even though certain municipalities were not awarded Blue Drop status, it did not mean that their water was unfit for consumption. Blue Drop certification goes beyond just the quality of drinking water; it includes aspects such as risk management, operations and asset management of water services.

Blue Drop is an incentive-based regulatory initiative that requires water services institutions to provide information in line with the legislative requirements of section 62 of the Water Services Act. While other countries that have water audits only focus on the quality of water, South Africa’s Department of Environmental and Water Affairs also looks at risk management and asset management in its Blue Drop report.