South Africa’s municipal water and sanitation systems are facing a deepening crisis, according to the 2025 Green Drop report and Blue and No Drop progress reports released by the department of water and sanitation (DWS) on Tuesday.
The reports reveal that nearly half of the country’s wastewater systems are now in a critical state, while drinking water risks and water losses remain alarmingly high in several provinces.
Sean Phillips, the department’s director-general, led the presentation of the findings and outlined the government’s response to the results.
The 2025 Green Drop report, which audits municipal wastewater systems, assessed 848 of these plants across 144 water services authorities (WSAs) in the 2023/24 municipal financial year, revealing a further deterioration in wastewater performance.
“There has been an increase in the percentage of systems in a critical state of performance from 39% in 2022 to 47% in 2025,” Phillips said.
In 2022, 334 systems were classified as critical; in 2025 that number has risen to 396. The percentage of systems in an excellent or good state of performance has dropped from 14% to only 8%, while the number of Green Drop certifications – a mark of excellence for wastewater treatment plants in the country – has fallen from 22 to 14.
The report’s data also highlights significant regional disparities. The Western Cape and Gauteng continue to record the highest percentage of wastewater systems with excellent or good performance, while the Free State and Northern Cape have the highest concentration of poor or critical systems, with the Free State’s poor or critical performance reaching 98%.
“By the end of February 2026, 80 out of 90 WSAs had submitted corrective action plans to address their 2022 Green Drop reports,” Phillips said, adding that the department would now be requesting all the WSAs to submit new corrective action plans to address their full 2025 Green Drop results.
Technical site assessments of 158 physically sampled wastewater systems revealed that 61% of systems are in critical or poor infrastructure condition, indicating a widespread lack of investment in maintenance and rehabilitation.
Major metropolitan areas, while generally performing better, are not exempt from failure. Five of the eight metropolitan municipalities, including eThekwini, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay, have systems classified in a critical state of performance.
The department of public works and infrastructure (DPWI) also showed worrying results. Of 114 of its wastewater systems, 101 were in a critical state, and none scored above average performance.
“The general poor and critical condition of DPWI wastewater systems is an indication of a lack of investment in the maintenance and rehabilitation of wastewater infrastructure,” Phillips said, noting that KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, and Eastern Cape were the worst performing DPWI regions.
Pemmy Majodina, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, said the Green Drop 2025 report must mark a turning point. “Communities cannot continue to live with broken promises or polluted rivers.
“To the people of South Africa, you have every right to demand better. Your water, your sanitation, your health and your dignity are non-negotiable …
“Let this be the moment we refuse to normalise sewage pollution, reject complacency and choose responsibility, action and service. Let us recommit ourselves to protecting every river, stream, wetland, treatment works and community that depends on them.”
Marginal improvement for drinking water
Drinking water systems, assessed through the Blue Drop progress assessment tool (PAT), showed only marginal improvement. Across 1 006 water supply systems, low-risk ratings improved slightly from 60.2% to 61.9%, while critical risk systems decreased from 9.9% to 7.9%.
“The risk results of the 2025 Blue Drop Progress Assessment Report are not significantly different to the risk results of the 2023 Full Blue Drop report,” Phillips noted, highlighting that the progress remains modest. Critical and high-risk systems require urgent corrective action and intensified regulatory attention.
He said that drinking water systems in the major metropolitan areas are “generally performing well”. However, due to the audit time-period neither the full Blue Drop or Blue Drop PAT report provide an indication of the current status of water quality in municipalities.
Provincial performance is uneven, with the Western Cape and Gauteng showing the strongest overall risk profile, while Northern Cape and Free State remain of material concern, with the Northern Cape having only 24% of systems categorised as low-risk.
Phillips said that the submission of corrective action plans remains a critical element for improving drinking water quality. Municipalities scoring below 31% during the full Blue Drop assessment were requested by the department to submit corrective action plans.
Wasted water
Water efficiency and management continue to challenge municipalities, as shown in the No Drop PAT assessment.
The national average percentage of non-revenue water remains at 47.3%, reflecting a “stabilisation of a previously increasing trend, albeit at a high level”. KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga have the highest non-revenue water at 60%, followed by the Free State at 56% and North West at 53%.
Northern Cape and Limpopo show the highest percentage of physical water losses, at 44% and 43% respectively, while the Western Cape has both the lowest non-revenue water and physical losses.
Gauteng, which receives the highest volume of water and has the highest per capita consumption, loses 431 billion litres of water annually, almost equal to the total volume received in the Western Cape.
In metropolitan areas, the City of Ekurhuleni and the City of Cape Town perform within international averages for non-revenue water, while Nelson Mandela Bay, Mangaung, City of Johannesburg and eThekwini remain in a critical state, with high non-revenue water, inefficient use and elevated physical losses.
Phillips pointed out that the Caps submissions for No Drop remain incomplete in several provinces, with Limpopo, North West and the Northern Cape identified as worst performers. Of the 64 Caps required, only 28 had been submitted by February last year.
“Municipalities scoring below 31% in their 2023 full No Drop assessments were requested by DWS to submit corrective action plans against their performance,” he said.
He attributed the underperformance to multiple structural and operational challenges. These include non-adherence to standard operating processes, poor infrastructure maintenance, inadequate staffing, weak budgeting for operations, ineffective billing and revenue collection and poor leadership.
The legal framework currently allows municipalities to use revenues from water and sanitation charges at their discretion, which often contributes to under-investment, he said.
The department’s findings align with those of the auditor-general, treasury and research institutions, which show that many municipalities are incapable of fully discharging their governance and service delivery mandates.
Phillips said that organised criminality, corruption, illegal connections and attacks on critical infrastructure further worsen the situation.
What’s being done
The department is relying on a combination of legislative, financial and regulatory measures to tackle the problems.
The Water Services Amendment Bill, currently before parliament, aims to clarify the separation of water service authority and water service provider (WSP) functions, legally require the appointment of licensed WSPs, enable the minister to direct municipalities to select alternative licensed providers and strengthen national oversight for non-compliant municipalities.
Phillips emphasised that the department has prioritised the regional bulk infrastructure grant and the water services grant allocations to the 105 worst performing water service authorities identified in the Blue and Green Drop reports.
It, too, has strengthened its regulatory and enforcement functions. Criminal cases for sewage pollution are increasing with 96 active cases across 53 water service authorities and a further 32 cases opened by the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment.
Cumulatively the two department’s cases are against 63 water services authorities for sewage pollution, he said, noting that five of the water department’s cases have been ruled upon and the department is monitoring the implementation of the court decisions.
Several municipalities have been fined, including Emalahleni at R650 million, Govan Mbeki local municipality at R200 million and the Thaba Chweu and Rand West local municipalities at R10 million each, with fines ordered to be allocated toward restoring wastewater infrastructure.
Phillips said that national initiatives include the Water and Sanitation Indaba in March last year, which was attended by all 144 WSAs and water boards. They agreed on measures to improve service delivery and technical capacity.
While progress has been good for resolutions assigned to the national government, Phillips noted that implementation by municipalities has been poor, with only 52 of the 105 worst performing WSAs submitting corrective action plans by February 2026.
Innovative service delivery models, such as the Vaal Corporation Water Utility partnership between Rand Water and Emfuleni Local Municipality, are being piloted, though these models are only feasible with water boards with strong balance sheets, he said.
Phillips highlighted treasury’s R54 billion performance-based incentive grant for metropolitan municipalities, effective from the 2025/26 municipal financial year.
Access to the grant is conditional on implementing water and sanitation turnaround plans, including ringfencing revenue from water sales, creating single-point accountability for WSPs, reducing non-revenue water and strengthening regulatory functions, he said.
Phillips concluded that the path to improving South Africa’s water and sanitation systems will require sustained investment, enhanced municipal capacity and stronger enforcement of standards.
The latest Green, Blue and No Drop reports show widespread deterioration of water and sanitation infrastructure. Nearly half of wastewater systems are critical, drinking water improvements are marginal and non-revenue water losses remain high in multiple provinces, highlighting urgent need for municipal investment and reform
