South Africa's department of water and sanitation has told parliament that nearly half of the country's municipal wastewater treatment systems are in a critical state, with the department currently pursuing 96 criminal cases against 53 water services authorities over sewage failures, according to a written reply disclosed on 7 October 2026 (Business Day).
Key takeaways
- 396 of 848 municipal wastewater treatment systems were classified as critical in the 2025 Green Drop assessment, up from 334 in 2022 (Business Day).
- Only 66 systems, 8%, achieved good or excellent performance, down from 118, 14%, in the previous assessment (Business Day).
- The department has allocated R2.923bn to wastewater infrastructure upgrades in the 2026/27 financial year, covering 87 projects under two infrastructure grants (Business Day).
- Critical facilities were identified in all nine provinces, with the Free State recording the highest provincial total at 81 systems and the Eastern Cape at 67 (Business Day).
What happened
Water and sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina provided the figures in a written reply to a question from IFP MP Nhlanhla Hadebe, who asked what the department was doing to address failing wastewater treatment systems, including how many facilities were noncompliant, whether municipalities had implemented remedial plans and what funding was available for upgrades (Business Day).
The department's latest "Full Green Drop Report", released in March, assessed 848 municipal wastewater treatment systems during the 2023/24 financial year. Of these, 396 were classified as being in a critical state of performance (Business Day). The proportion of wastewater systems classified as critical increased from 39% in the 2022 report to 47% in the 2025 report, while the proportion of systems performing at good or excellent levels fell from 14% to 8% (Business Day). Only 14 systems achieved Green Drop certification in the latest assessment, compared with 22 previously (Business Day).
The department's annexure to the parliamentary reply lists critical wastewater facilities across all nine provinces. In Gauteng, the list includes 10 systems under the City of Johannesburg, including Northern Works and Olifantsvlei, as well as the Rooiwal Eastern and Northern works in Pretoria (Business Day). In KwaZulu-Natal, 19 critical systems are listed under eThekwini municipality, including facilities serving Amanzimtoti, Isipingo, KwaMashu, New Germany, Phoenix, Southern, Tongaat, Umbilo and Verulam (Business Day).
| Province | Critical wastewater systems |
|---|---|
| Free State | 81 |
| Eastern Cape | 67 |
| Northern Cape | 66 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 61 |
| Western Cape | 31 |
| Limpopo | 29 |
| North West | 29 |
| Gauteng | 23 |
| Mpumalanga | 10 |
The department said municipalities whose wastewater systems were classified as critical were required to prepare or update corrective action plans. Of the 90 municipalities identified in the 2022 Green Drop report as having critical wastewater systems, 79 submitted corrective action plans, and all had begun implementation (Business Day). However, the annexure shows that several municipalities identified in the earlier assessment had not submitted plans, including Masilonyana and Nketoana in the Free State, uMkhanyakude in KwaZulu-Natal, and several Northern Cape municipalities including Kamiesberg, Karoo Hoogland, Kai Garib and !Kheis, Magareng, Phokwane and Sol Plaatje, with Kgetlengrivier in the North West also listed (Business Day).
There is no single deadline for all the critical systems to be restored, the department said, because the timeframe depends on the nature and extent of the work required. Refurbishment involving civil works or pumps could take about a year, while facilities that have completely collapsed and cannot be refurbished could require decommissioning and the construction of new infrastructure, which would take longer (Business Day).
What happens next
The department has allocated R2.923bn to wastewater infrastructure upgrades in the 2026/27 financial year, covering 87 projects funded through the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant and Water Services Infrastructure Grant (Business Day). The department has also introduced an internal review process for critical wastewater treatment plants and amended its annual performance plan to track the number of critical systems monitored against Green Drop requirements (Business Day). Parliament's portfolio committee on water and sanitation said in June that the Water Services Amendment Bill would strengthen the department's ability to act against water services authorities that fail to implement corrective measures (Business Day). The department's regulatory response is also being considered alongside proposed legislative changes, and it currently has 96 criminal cases against 53 water services authorities regarding wastewater management failures (Business Day).
Specification read
Reading the 7 October 2026 disclosure as a buyer brief: the South African municipal wastewater estate is 848 plants, with 396 of those formally tagged critical in the 2025 Green Drop assessment, and only 66 systems cleared the good or excellent threshold (Business Day). The source does not report a design capacity in megalitres per day, a population equivalent, or an average influent BOD or COD, so the project class cannot be stated in flow terms; the reported scale is a count of treatment works and a provincial distribution. The procurement consequence the source does report is R2.923bn allocated across 87 projects in 2026/27, funded through the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant and Water Services Infrastructure Grant (Business Day). The class of work that follows is the standard municipal wastewater train: screening and grit removal, primary clarification, biological treatment in the form of activated sludge, MBBR, SBR or anaerobic systems such as UASB where the influent suits it, followed by tertiary polishing and disinfection, with DAF or membrane steps where reuse or tighter discharge limits apply. This event bears on the biological and tertiary stages most directly, because the source names rehabilitation, refurbishment, and in some cases complete decommissioning and replacement of civil works and pumps, with the department indicating that pump and civil refurbishment can take about a year while full replacement of a collapsed plant takes longer (Business Day). For a South African municipal or industrial operator working in this procurement environment, the relevant guides are the Municipal sector hub, the Effluent Treatment Plant in Pretoria: 2026 Buyer's Guide for Industrial Plants, the Effluent Treatment Plant in Port Elizabeth: 2026 Buyer's Guide, and the broader Domestic Sewage Treatment in South Africa (2026 Guide).
FAQ
How many South African wastewater treatment systems are now classified as critical?
The department's 2025 Green Drop assessment classified 396 of 848 municipal wastewater treatment systems as critical, 47% of those assessed (Business Day).
What funding is earmarked for wastewater upgrades in 2026/27?
The department has allocated R2.923bn to wastewater infrastructure upgrades in 2026/27, covering 87 projects funded through the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant and Water Services Infrastructure Grant (Business Day).
How long is the refurbishment work expected to take at a critical plant?
The department told parliament that pump and civil refurbishment could take about a year, while facilities that cannot be refurbished may need decommissioning and replacement, which would take longer (Business Day).
Which provinces have the highest counts of critical wastewater systems?
The Free State has the highest provincial total at 81 critical systems, followed by the Eastern Cape at 67 and the Northern Cape at 66 (Business Day).
