Water and Sanitation awards best performing municipalities on their Blue and Green Drop Certifications
06 December 2023
On Tuesday, 05 December 2023, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), led by Minister Senzo Mchunu and Deputy Minister Judith Tshabalala, conferred awards for the best performing municipalities on their Blue and Green Drop Certifications as part of the release of the incentive-based regulatory reports held at Emperors Palace in Ekurhuleni.
The full Blue Drop and No Drop reports were released simultaneously with the ceremony held to also to recognise the top-performing Water Services Authorities (WSAs) of 2023, based on their assessments.
The Blue Drop report evaluated all the 958 water supply systems across 144 water services authorities. These evaluations considered factors such as infrastructure condition, maintenance, operation, treatment processes, and staff expertise.
In 2014, 44 water supply systems received Blue Drop Certifications for achieving scores above 95%. However, in 2023, only 26 water supply systems were able to achieve this feat. On the other hand, the number of water supply systems in a critical state of performance increased from 174 in 2014 to 277 in 2023. These statistics indicate a significant decline in excellence between 2014 and 2023.