With the amount of water-borne diseases making headlines, can you afford to not know your area’s Blue Drop status? The winners of the 2012 Blue Drop Awards were announced at a prestigious gala dinner held last night at the biennial WISA Conference, and noted a significant improvement in the state of South Africa’s drinking water quality.

According to the report from Water Minister Edna Molewa, the number of municipalities awarded Blue Drop status has increased to 98% – an impressive 50% increase from the 2011 results.

Ekurhuleni Municipality topped the charts with a 98.95% status, followed by City of Johannesburg in close second place with a score of 98.92% and Mogale City Local Municipality ringing in at number three with 98.79%.

Following on from the top three winners are as follows:
eThekwini: 98.77%
Tlokwe Local Municipality: 98.45%
City of Cape Town: 98.14%
Bitou Local Municipality: 97.74%
Witzenberg Local Municipality: 97.63%
Randfontein Local Municipality: 97.54%
George Local Municipality: 97.41%

Despite the impressive results presented above, the Blue Drop report also red flagged 14 municipalities, issuing a warning to residents of small rural towns in these areas to not drink untreated tap water.

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