The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has noted, with concern, the release of the 2025 Green Drop report and the progress assessment reports from the Blue and No Drop programmes by the Department of Water and Sanitation on March 31.

The 2025 Green Drop report indicates a lack of improvement in the condition of wastewater systems in the country. While 22 Green Drop certifications were achieved in 2022, that number plummeted to 14 in 2025. The levels of wastewater systems performing at “excellent” or “good” levels dropped from 14% in 2022 to 8% in 2025.

Further, 39% of wastewater systems were in a critical state in 2022, and in 2025 that number had risen to 47%; almost half of the country’s wastewater systems are at risk of discharging partially treated or untreated water into rivers and the environment.

“Raw and partially treated wastewater flowing into fresh water sources has become a common feature in several municipalities in South Africa,” the SAHRC commented, adding that through several of its own reports it has noted how the country’s water resources have been compromised by decaying and dilapidated wastewater systems.

The 2025 Blue Drop progress assessment shows that, of the water supply systems assessed, 10.5% were in the high-risk category and 7.9% were in the critical-risk category. Further, the provinces with the highest proportion of water supply systems in the high- and critical-risk categories are the Northern Cape and Free State.

Microbiological water quality compliance remains a challenge in the country as 49% of water supply systems received a high-risk microbiological quality rating. The SAHRC noted that households and communities relying on water from those water supply systems face an immediate detrimental health risk.

The 2025 No Drop progress assessment indicates that the national non-revenue water level of 47.3% remains significantly higher than the international average of 30%. The SAHRC noted the lack of meaningful improvement in addressing the high levels of non-revenue water, with 2025 levels only marginally better than 2023 (47.4%).

In its engagements with municipalities, the SAHRC has noted that they often bemoan inadequate funds as one of the root causes for service delivery failures. Yet, they are losing large amounts of potential revenue through water losses.

Given the “dire and widespread nature of collapsed wastewater systems in the country”, the SAHRC recommended that the situation be classified as a national disaster.

However, it did commend the Department of Water and Sanitation for its continued commitment to transparency and accountability through publicly releasing the Blue, Green and No Drop reports, which are valuable tools in assessing the state of water quality and wastewater systems in South Africa.

The SAHRC urged government, particularly municipalities, to view the results of the Drop reports as a “wake-up and a clarion call” to intensify efforts to urgently remedy water and wastewater systems.

“The SAHRC will [. . .] monitor the efforts taken by government in turning around the dire state of water and wastewater systems. It is unacceptable that 32 years into a democracy, water quality and wastewater systems are in a state of decline.”