What Is The Blue/Green Drop Status?

The Blue/Green drop status is an initiative launched during 2008 by the Department of Water Affairs. It is a certification programme administered to improve water quality provided by water and local authorities in South Africa.

The system aims at awarding water and local authority water providers and services with Blue and/or Green Drop Status if they comply with drinking water and wastewater legislation. This incentive-driven regulatory approach is a first in South Africa, and is internationally regarded as unique in the water regulatory domain.

The Blue Drop Certification Programme aims to see that local government organs achieve what has become popularly known as the Blue Drop Status. The status is indicative that the drinking water supplied is of excellent quality and safe for human consumption. The Department of Water Affairs annually publish the ratings and it was noted that no local authority in KwaZulu-Natal was rated among the top ten in South Africa and at least one major local authority providing water was zero rated. The City of Johannesburg received the number one rating in the country for the quality of the water supplied to its communities.

A Green Drop Status awarded by the Department of Water Affairs to local authorities is indicative of compliance with good wastewater discharge standards for 90% of the time for the following criteria:

• Operational Staff
• Wastewater Quality Monitoring 
• Wastewater Sample Analysis
• Submission of Wastewater Quality Results
• Wastewater Quality Compliance
• Management of Wastewater Quality Failures
• Storm-water Management
• Bylaws
• Wastewater Treatment Capacity
• Publication of Wastewater Quality Performance
• Wastewater Asset Management

 
REMEMBER WATER IS PRECIOUS!

Pieter Rautenbach