Municipal Wastewater

The failure of South Africa's municipal wastewater treatment infrastructure is one of the most serious and worsening threats to the country's water resources. Wastewater treatment works (WWTWs) – facilities that treat domestic sewage before it is discharged back into rivers and water bodies – are in a state of widespread decline across the country. Decades of underinvestment in maintenance, a shortage of qualified operators, rapid population growth, and poor municipal governance have resulted in thousands of megalitres of raw or partially treated sewage being discharged daily into South Africa's rivers, dams, and groundwater systems. This so-called "sewage crisis" is now one of the leading drivers of water quality degradation in South Africa, contributing to eutrophication, waterborne disease outbreaks, the proliferation of contaminants of emerging concern, and the collapse of aquatic ecosystems in many catchments.

Municipal wastewater treatment is regulated under the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) and the Water Services Act (Act 108 of 1997), with DWS responsible for compliance monitoring through its Green Drop regulatory programme. The resources below provide access to performance assessment reports, compliance data, regulatory frameworks, and research tools relevant to municipal wastewater management in South Africa.

Green Drop Programme

The Green Drop programme is DWS's primary regulatory tool for assessing the performance of municipal WWTWs across South Africa. Facilities are assessed against criteria covering process control, effluent quality compliance, operator competence, asset management, and catchment management, and are awarded a Green Drop status if they achieve a score above 90%.

Green Drop Report 2022 The most recent comprehensive national assessment of WWTW performance across South Africa, providing facility-level scores, compliance data, and risk ratings. The 2022 report revealed a dramatic deterioration in performance compared to previous cycles, with the majority of South Africa's WWTWs found to be in a poor or critical state.

Green Drop Report 2011 The 2011 report, representing the high-water mark of WWTW performance in South Africa — a valuable benchmark against which current performance can be compared to understand the scale of deterioration over the intervening decade.

DWS Green Drop Programme Portal The DWS Green Drop portal provides information on the programme methodology, regulatory framework, and access to facility-level assessment data for individual WWTWs.

Additional Data & Performance Tools

DWS NIWIS – Wastewater Treatment Works Data The National Integrated Water Information System includes data on registered WWTWs, their licensed discharge volumes, and monitoring data — accessible through the NIWIS portal.

DWS Resource Quality Information Services – Microbiology Data The National Microbial Monitoring Programme provides E. coli and other microbial indicator data from rivers receiving WWTW effluent — directly relevant to assessing the downstream impact of municipal wastewater.

SA National Wastewater Treatment Works Register (DWS) DWS maintains a register of all licensed WWTWs in South Africa, including their design capacity, actual flows, and regulatory status.

Research & Guidance

WRC – Municipal Wastewater Research The WRC has funded extensive research on WWTW performance, appropriate technology for small towns, wastewater reuse, and the health and ecological impacts of municipal effluent. Search the WRC Knowledge Hub for reports on wastewater treatment, sludge management, and water reuse.

WISA – Water Institute of Southern Africa The professional body for the water sector in southern Africa, providing access to technical guidance, conference proceedings, and research on municipal wastewater treatment and management.

Sanitation Learning Hub An international platform providing resources, case studies, and learning materials on sanitation and wastewater management, with relevance to South Africa's informal settlement and rural sanitation challenges.

WHO/UNICEF JMP – Sanitation Data for South Africa Global sanitation access data including country-level statistics on wastewater treatment coverage and access to safely managed sanitation services in South Africa.

Wastewater Reuse

Treated municipal wastewater is an increasingly important alternative water source in water-scarce South Africa. Reuse applications include agricultural irrigation, industrial process water, groundwater recharge, and — in advanced treatment schemes — indirect or direct potable reuse.

WRC – Water Reuse in South Africa Research on the feasibility, technology, and governance of municipal wastewater reuse across South Africa, including case studies from Windhoek (Namibia) — one of the world's longest-running direct potable reuse systems.

DWS National Water Reuse Strategy National policy guidance on the planned and managed reuse of treated wastewater as a contribution to South Africa's water security, including water quality requirements for different reuse applications.

Regulatory Framework

Municipal wastewater management in South Africa is governed primarily by:

Water Services Act (Act 108 of 1997) — grants citizens the right of access to basic sanitation and places obligations on municipalities as water services authorities to provide wastewater services
National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) — regulates the discharge of treated effluent to water resources through water use licensing and general authorisations
General Authorisation (GN 665 of 2013) — sets the conditions under which WWTWs may discharge without a full individual licence, including effluent quality limits
Municipal Systems Act (Act 32 of 2000) — governs how municipalities plan and manage service delivery, including wastewater services