Is South African Tap Water Safe to Drink?
Guide to South African drinking water quality and safety.
For many South Africans, turning on the kitchen tap and filling a glass with water is something we have always taken for granted. But with increasing reports of ageing infrastructure, water interruptions and concerns about water quality, more people are asking a simple question:
Is South African tap water actually safe to drink?
The answer is not quite as simple as yes or no.
South Africa Has Drinking Water Standards
Municipal drinking water in South Africa is required to meet national drinking water quality standards known as SANS 241.
These standards set limits for things that may affect the safety and quality of drinking water, including bacteria, certain chemicals and metals, as well as characteristics such as the taste, smell and appearance of the water.
Municipal water is treated before it reaches our homes, usually through several stages designed to remove dirt, microorganisms and other unwanted substances. Disinfectants such as chlorine are also commonly used to help prevent harmful bacteria from growing in the water.
So, in areas where the water treatment system is operating properly and the water meets the required standards, municipal tap water should be suitable for drinking.
Why Can Water Quality Differ from One Area to Another?
The water leaving a treatment plant still has a journey to make before it reaches your kitchen tap.
It may travel many kilometres through reservoirs, pumps and underground pipes. The condition of this infrastructure can affect the quality of the water that eventually reaches your home.
Problems such as ageing pipes, pipe bursts, water interruptions, maintenance work or contamination within the distribution system can sometimes affect water quality.
This is one reason why water may look, smell or taste different after a water outage or pipe repair.
Water quality can also differ between municipalities and even between different areas supplied by the same municipality.
What About Chlorine?
You may occasionally notice a swimming-pool-like smell or taste in your tap water.
This is often caused by chlorine.
Chlorine plays an important role in municipal water treatment because it helps control harmful microorganisms as the water travels through the distribution system.
However, some people dislike the taste and smell it can leave behind.
Chlorine can also react with naturally occurring organic material in water and form compounds known as trihalomethanes (THMs). This is one reason drinking-water standards regulate both disinfection and certain disinfection by-products.
Clear Water Doesn’t Necessarily Tell You Everything
We often judge water by looking at it.
If it is clear and doesn’t smell strange, we naturally assume that it is clean.
Unfortunately, many substances that may be present in water cannot be seen, smelled or tasted.
Dissolved salts, certain metals, PFAS and other microscopic substances may not change the appearance of water at all.
This doesn’t mean they are necessarily present in your tap water. It simply means that appearance alone cannot tell you everything about water quality.
Proper water testing is the only reliable way to know exactly what is in a particular water supply.
Does Boiling Tap Water Make It Safe?
Boiling water can kill many harmful bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms, which is why authorities may recommend boiling water when there is a microbiological contamination concern.
However, boiling does not remove everything.
For example, boiling does not remove dissolved salts and many chemical contaminants. In some cases, as water evaporates, substances that do not evaporate can actually become more concentrated.
Boiling and water purification therefore serve different purposes.
Should You Filter Your Tap Water?
For many households, filtering water is not necessarily about believing that municipal water is unsafe.
It can simply provide an additional level of treatment at the point where the water is actually consumed.
Different water-treatment technologies do different jobs.
Activated carbon, for example, is particularly useful for improving taste and reducing chlorine and certain organic compounds.
Reverse osmosis (RO) uses a very fine membrane to reduce a much wider range of dissolved substances and contaminants.
Some drinking-water systems combine several technologies — such as sediment filtration, activated carbon, reverse osmosis and UV treatment — because each stage performs a different function.
So, Is South African Tap Water Safe to Drink?
South Africa has established standards for drinking-water quality, and properly treated municipal water that complies with these standards should be suitable for drinking.
However, water quality is not necessarily identical everywhere or at all times.
The municipality supplying your water, the condition of local infrastructure, interruptions to the supply and even the plumbing within a property can all influence the water that eventually comes out of your kitchen tap.
For homeowners who want additional control over the water their family drinks, point-of-use water purification provides another treatment step right where the water is consumed.
Ultimately, understanding your water is the best place to start.
The more you know about what is in your water — and how different treatment methods work — the easier it becomes to make an informed choice for your home.