It gives me great pleasure to present the 2022/23 Blue Drop Watch Report. This Watch Report is a once-off reports as I undertook to keep the sector and the country informed on the status of drinking water and wastewater systems during the release of the 2021/22 Drops Reports. The Blue Drop Watch Report provides interim insights, while the 2022/23 Blue Drop Audit Cycle and Green Drop PAT Cycle is underway. The full 2022/23 Blue Drop report will be released in July 2023 whilst the Green Drop progress assessment report will be made available.

During the 2022/23 Blue Drop audit, technical assessments were conducted and therefore 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 of a technical overview of the country’s drinking water supply.

As with the Green Drop report release in 2022 there has been a decline in the status of our water supply services but I am nonetheless encouraged by the response to the 2021/22 Green Drop and Blue Drop Progress Reports and I want to maintain the momentum that has been generated through the process.

Access to safe and reliable drinking water is embedded in our Constitution and we want to protect consumers from potentially unsustainable and unsafe services. Equally, wastewater management and sanitation, in general, are paramount to the dignity of our people and integrity of the environment. 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 municipalities, our waterboards and the private sector, who all heeded the call to action in their efforts to bring about improvements.

We need to build on the good work being done through the Drops Programme but must ensure that it does not become our only catalyst for change. We have to ensure that we remain constantly engaged, monitor, report and improve in the period between the Drops reports. Reports such as the Watch Report, are therefore extremely valuable. I am nonetheless looking forward to the release of the Blue Drop Report in July 2023 and commencement of the next cycle of the Drops Programme.

Minister for Water and Sanitation: Mr Senzo Mchunu

It gives me great pleasure to present the 2022/23 Green Drop Watch Report. This Watch Report is a once-off report as I undertook to keep the sector and the country informed on the status of drinking water and wastewater systems during the release of the 2021/22 Drops Reports. The Green Drop and Blue Drop Watch Reports provides interim insights, while the 2022/23 Blue Drop Audit Cycle and Green Drop PAT Cycle is underway. The full 2022/23 Blue Drop report will be released in July 2023 whilst the Green Drop progress assessment report will be made available.

The 2021/22 Drops programme introduced the concept of regulatory surveillance, and the Green Drop Watch Report builds on that concept and flags wastewater systems that are in a critical state, points to root causes and interventions, and is intended to shine a spotlight on the systems requiring improvement. While the report highlights areas for concern on the state of wastewater systems, it is an interim report, and the assessment may change once the Green Drop PAT is complete.

I am nonetheless encouraged by the response to the 2021/22 Green Drop and Blue Drop progress Reports and I want to maintain the momentum that has been generated through the process.

Access to safe and reliable drinking water is embedded in our Constitution and we want to protect consumers from potentially unsustainable and unsafe services. Equally, wastewater management and sanitation, in general, are paramount to the dignity of our people and integrity of the environment. 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 municipalities, private sector and the Department of Public Works, who all heeded the call to action in their efforts to bring about improvements.

We need to build on the good work being done through the Drops Programme but must ensure that it does not become our only catalyst for change. We have to ensure that we remain constantly engaged, monitor, report and improve in the period between the Drops reports. Reports such as the Watch Report, are therefore extremely valuable. I am nonetheless looking forward to the release of the Blue Drop Report in July 2023 and commencement of the next cycle of the Drops Programme.

Minister for Water and Sanitation: Mr Senzo Mchunu

It gives me great pleasure to present the 2022/23 No Drop Watch Report. The purpose of this Report is to provide an overview of the status of municipalities pertaining to their water losses, non-revenue water and water use efficiency against regulatory compliance and best management practices based on the 2021/2022 municipal financial year. The Report quickly evaluates the status quo based on the submitted water balance data.

The No Drop Certification Programme has been introduced in 2014 by the Department of Water and Sanitation in partnership with the Strategic Water Partners Network (SWPN-SA). This process involves a comprehensive audit, which provides an inclusive view of the municipal water demand management business by assessing key performance areas in the fields of planning, finance, technical skills, performance, leak repair programmes, and others.

The Department welcomes some excellent status and good practice that already exist in local government, however noting a decline in water loss management practices in most of the municipalities. These municipalities are encouraged to move their water loss management practices to the highest levels possible. Municipalities which have not fared according to expectation, that is, at a minimum the development and submission of a water balance, the message is to use these results to define your status and structure your plans and resources accordingly. I am however, encouraged that the status quo will improve with verification of this data and more submissions acquired during the No Drop assessment.

I further encourage municipalities to participate during the upcoming No Drop assessments and provide supporting documents to challenge the current status of their respective municipalities on the status of water losses and Non-Revenue Water Management. The No Drop assessments will be conducted in a differentiated and incremental approach for a few cycles, whilst allowing all categories of Municipalities to put in more efforts to implement Water Conservation and Water Demand Management. The No Drop programme has been received with open arms and eager anticipation by the sector. As the Department, we are committed to ensuring that it is well resourced and on par with current enthusiasm by the sector. We trust it will become the accolade of water managers and professionals in- and- outside of our beautiful country.

Access to safe and reliable drinking water is embedded in our Constitution and we want to protect consumers from potentially unsustainable and unreliable services. Equally, water and sanitation services, in general, are paramount to the dignity of our people and integrity of the environment. 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 municipalities, private sector and other departments, who all heeded the call to action in their efforts to bring about improvements.

We need to build on the good work being done through the Drops Programme but must ensure that it does not become our only catalyst for change. We have to ensure that we remain constantly engaged, monitor, report and improve in the period between the Drops reports.

Minister for Water and Sanitation: Mr Senzo Mchunu

It gives me pleasure to present this 2022 Green Drop report. The President announced the relaunch of the Green Drop Certification programme in his State of the Nation Address, and we are pleased to have delivered on this commitment. We recognised that as a flagship project, this incentive-based regulation programme has the power to mobilise the wastewater sector on a path to improvement.

Wastewater management and sanitation are paramount to the dignity of our people and integrity of the environment and it is therefore important that we strive for excellence in these fields. Even though the Green Drop programme has been at the centre of much of the improvement in the sector over the years and has brought about change and reignited the passion amongst our wastewater specialists, the results of this report serves as a scientifically calculated indicator that there is still a mammoth task ahead of us.

It remains unacceptable that sewage spillages and failing wastewater treatment works are detrimentally impacting our environment as well as the livelihood and health of many of our communities on a daily basis in the year 2022. It is of great concern that there are so many systems with scores below 31%, indicating a dismal state of wastewater management, posing a risk to both environment and public health. We are therefore making the call to political, public and private leadership to declare their commitment to use this report as the turning point towards sustainable improvement, because everyone can make a difference within their sphere of influence.

I need to make it clear that action will be taken against those municipalities that flagrantly put the lives of our people and environment at risk. As Minister of Water and Sanitation, I am engaging the Minister of Cooperative Governance to ensure that as National Government we take drastic intervention measures towards the improvement of water services.

We will use this report as the baseline for the Water Services Improvement Programme (10-point plan) from where we will measure the sustainable turn-around which we aspire to. However, we are proud of those municipalities who have displayed their commitment towards effective wastewater management, even in the absence of the Green Drop programme over the past few years. The Green Drop scores achieved prove that excellence in the field of wastewater management is a realistic possibility and will remain the performance target for all to plan towards.

A special congratulations to the leadership, management and staff of those systems that attained the prestigious Green Drop status.

We move forward knowing that we do not accept ‘being good’ as the norm for the South African wastewater industry instead, we endeavor towards excellence.

Minister for Water and Sanitation: Mr Senzo Mchunu