World Cup 2010: Tap Water Safe to Drink

In South Africa, water conservation is not high enough up on the list of priorities, but we have always been fortunate to have incredible water quality. Confirming this fact, South Africa’s Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Buyelwa Sonjica, has given the thumbs up to our tap water in all 2010 FIFA World Cup host cities.

Releasing the World Cup 2010 “Host Cities Drinking Water Quality Management Audit Report” last week, Sonjica said the worlds football fans can rest assured that the water coming out of the tap in all host cities is completely safe to drink.

The audit used the Blue Drop Certification System, an incentive-based regulation system which the department introduced in September 2008 to rate municipalities across the country.

All of the host cities scored 95 percent under the certification system and were awarded Blue Drop Status.

Johannesburg and Cape Town got the best scores with 98.39% and 98.18% respectively, while Rustenburg with 95.1%, Port Elizabeth with 95.08% and Bloemfontein with 95.05% ranked the lowest.

Over the last six months the country’s overall South African drinking water quality was measured as 96 percent, an improvement over the 2009 Blue Drop Report when the country’s towns and municipalities scored on average 93.3 percent.

Relative to other countries South Africa has safe tape water, with Sonjica adding that “When you go to other countries the hotels have a tag there saying don’t drink from the taps. We’ve never had that”.