Cape Town’s drinking water goes through strict, rigorous treatment to ensure it is safe for the public to drink and use, even during prolonged load-shedding. Our tap water also complies with the national drinking water quality standard, SANS:241.
Cape Town residents can be confident that the water that comes out of their taps remains of the highest quality and is safe to drink and use. The City continuously invests in our systems and infrastructure to ensure no lapses in service. The City will spend R18 billion on water infrastructure over the next three financial years alone.
‘The City regularly tests over 5 700 water samples each year, taken from various points around Cape Town. We measure our compliance with the South African National Standards and consistently exceed our targets.
‘City teams also continue to monitor our drinking water and its supply operations across Cape Town regularly, ensuring the highest quality, even during prolonged stages of load-shedding.
‘The City has been recognised internationally for our investment into water and sanitation infrastructure, underscoring our ongoing compliance and commitment to providing the highest quality water to our residents.
‘The City’s annual Water Quality Report reflects that it meets the criteria for ‘excellent’ according to South Africa’s stringent SANS:241 standards. More recently, the City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate was recognised as Africa’s first Leading Utility of the World,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
Please note: There have been NO reports of a Cholera outbreak in the Western Cape.
Should you have any concerns about water quality, report them to one of these channels:
• Call: 0860 103 089
• WhatsApp: 060 018 1505
• SMS: 31373
• Email: water@capetown.gov.za
• Visit: www.capetown.gov.za/servicerequests
Know your drinking water:
• Water is purified at 12 water treatment plants.
• Each has an on-site laboratory where drinking water is tested every two hours - every day of the year.
• Every year, more than 472 300 chemical and biological tests are performed on the water entering the treatment plants and on the treated water that leaves the plants and enters the reservoirs and distribution network.
• More than 250 drinking water samples are collected weekly at sampling points across the entire distribution network. Thus water quality is monitored as it flows through the 10 800km network of pumps, reservoirs and pipelines to get to our taps.
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Issued by: Media Office, City of Cape Town
Media enquiries: Councillor Zahid Badroodien, Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, City of Cape Town, Cell: 072 639 5773, Email: zahid.badroodien@capetown.gov.za (please always copy media.account@capetown.gov.za)