WATCH | Water and Sanitation DG speaks on SA's water quality

PRETORIA - The release of the full Blue Drop report makes for worrying reading. It confirms that water quality and systems have deterIoriated markedly since 2014.

9 years ago only five percent of drinking water tested by municipalities was deemed poor or bad. Currently 46 percent of municipalities have drinking water of poor or bad quality.

That is approximately nearly half our drinking water. The Blue Drop report is a comprehensive assessment of the state of all 958 water supply systems, assessing water infrastructure, treatment and quality.

While the drinking water systems in Gauteng and the western cape fare the best, the free state and the northern cape have the poorest systems.

With such a sharp drop in water quality in less than a decade, where are we heading? Director general of the department of water and sanitation Dr Sean Phillips