Free tools · Drinking water · Eastern Cape
Is the tap water safe in Emalahleni?
The government’s latest official rating puts 1 of the 24 drinking-water systems of the Chris Hani District Municipality at high or critical risk, and 23 at low or medium risk. It’s the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Blue Drop risk assessment of 2024, published in March 2026.
This is the government’s latest official assessment (published in March 2026, on data from July 2023 to June 2024), not a live test of your tap water or a guarantee that it’s safe.
Water in Emalahleni is the responsibility of the Chris Hani District Municipality, so the figures here are for all the district’s systems and works, not only those in Emalahleni. The district also supplies Dr AB Xuma, Enoch Mgijima, Intsika Yethu, Inxuba Yethemba and Sakhisizwe.
- 1 of 24Drinking-water systems at high or critical riskBlue Drop risk 2024, district
- 3 of 17Sewage works in a critical stateGreen Drop 2024, below 31%
- LowWater losses riskNo Drop 2025, 36.7%
Each drinking-water system, 2024
| System | Risk |
|---|---|
| EMALAHLENI - Indwe Supply System | Low 44.6% |
| EMALAHLENI - Machubeni Supply System | Low 29.3% |
| EMALAHLENI- Dordrecht Supply System | Low 34.2% |
| ENGCOBO - Engcobo Town Supply System | Low 16.1% |
| ENGCOBO (Rural treated Boreholes) | Medium 64.4% |
| ENGCOBO- Nkobongo Supply System | Low 31.7% |
| INKWANCA - Molteno supply system | Low 47.4% |
| INKWANCA - Sterkstroom supply system | Low 30.2% |
| INTSIKA YETHU - Lubisi supply system | High 86.7% |
| INTSIKA YETHU - Ncora Water Supply | Low 46.2% |
| INTSIKA YETHU - Tsojana Supply System | Low 40.3% |
| INTSIKA YETHU - Tsomo Service System | Low 21.3% |
| INXUBA YETHEMBA - Cradock Supply System | Low 28.6% |
| INXUBA YETHEMBA - Middelburg supply system-treated | Low 22.9% |
| LUKHANJI - Queenstown Supply System | Low 28.2% |
| LUKHANJI - Whittlesea Supply System | Low 26.7% |
| SAKHISIZWE - (Farms & Rural - Treated) | Medium 59.5% |
| SAKHISIZWE - Cala Supply System | Low 42.1% |
| SAKHISIZWE - Elliot Supply Sytem | Medium 53.4% |
| SAKHISIZWE- Xhalanga Supply System | Low 36.8% |
| SAKHISIZWE-Cala Package System | Low 32.8% |
| TSOLWANA: Hofmeyer supply system | Medium 50.6% |
| TSOLWANA: Ntabathemba supply system | Medium 50.6% |
| TSOLWANA: Tarkastad Supply System | Medium 50.5% |
The department’s risk rating for each system, from its Blue Drop risk assessment of 2024 (data from July 2023 to June 2024). Below 50% is low risk; 90% or more is critical.
What the ratings mean
The Department of Water and Sanitation rates each drinking-water system’s risk from four things: the size of its treatment works and how close it runs to capacity (35% of the rating), whether its water met the national drinking-water standard, SANS 241, in tests, and whether enough tests were done (35%), the skills of its staff (20%), and whether it has a water safety plan (10%).
The rating is a share of the worst possible score, so higher is worse: below 50% is low risk, 50% to under 70% medium, 70% to under 90% high, and 90% or more critical. It describes how a system was run and tested over a year, not the water in your glass today.
Your water today
For the water in your tap today, ask the Chris Hani District Municipality. It’s responsible for the water here and issues boil-water notices. If it issues one, follow it.
The department’s report for the Eastern Cape has each system’s full scorecard: Blue Drop Progress Assessment Report 2025: Eastern Cape.
Sewage works
Sewage works don’t supply your tap, but what they release flows into rivers and dams, and the department’s Green Drop report links poorly treated sewage to risks for public health downstream. In its audit for 2024, 3 of the 17 works the district runs were in a critical state.
| Works | Score | Category | Releases into |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cala | 43.6% | Very poor | Tsomo River |
| Cofimvaba | 46.6% | Very poor | Ngcongcolora River |
| Cradock | 55.9% | Average | Great Fish River |
| Dordrecht | 52.6% | Average | Dordrecht Golf course |
| Elliot (Old) BIO & OP & Elliot (New) AS | 29.0% | Critical state | Slang River |
| Engcobo | 54.2% | Average | Cefane River |
| Hofmeyr | 44.6% | Very poor | No Discharge |
| Indwe | 39.8% | Very poor | No Discharge |
| Komani | 30.0% | Critical state | Not printed |
| Lady Frere | 32.7% | Very poor | Not printed |
| Middelburg | 31.6% | Very poor | Not printed |
| Molteno | 56.4% | Average | Not printed |
| Nogate | 33.2% | Very poor | Not printed |
| Sada/Wittlesea | 51.1% | Average | Not printed |
| Sterkstroom | 56.9% | Average | Not printed |
| Tarkastad | 58.0% | Average | Not printed |
| Tsomo | 30.2% | Critical state | Tsomo River |
Green Drop audit for 2024 (July 2023 to June 2024), published in March 2026. The department’s categories: 90% or more is excellent, 80% good, 50% average, 31% very poor, and below 31% a critical state. Higher is better. “Releases into” is where the works discharges, as the report prints it.
Water losses
The department’s No Drop assessment of 2025 rates the Chris Hani District Municipality’s management of water losses at low risk (36.7%; below 50% is low risk, 90% or more critical). In 2023/24, 58% of the water it put into its pipes was never billed: lost to leaks and bursts, taken illegally, or used without a bill. The department rates the accuracy of those figures as low (estimated). Its report counts more than 40% as extremely poor, and less than 10% as excellent.
The last full audit: Blue Drop scores, 2023 (22 systems)
The full Blue Drop audit of July 2021 to June 2022, published in 2023. Higher is better: 95% or more is excellent, and below 31% a critical state. Systems may be named differently from 2024.
| System | Score | Category |
|---|---|---|
| EMALAHLENI - Indwe Supply System | 33.9% | Very poor |
| EMALAHLENI - Machubeni Supply System | 48.4% | Very poor |
| EMALAHLENI- Dordrecht Supply System | 35.9% | Very poor |
| ENGCOBO - Engcobo Town Supply System | 66.2% | Average |
| ENGCOBO- Nkobongo Supply System | 54.6% | Average |
| INKWANCA - Molteno supply system | 47.1% | Very poor |
| INKWANCA - Sterkstroom supply system | 42.5% | Very poor |
| INTSIKA YETHU - Ncora Water Supply | 43.9% | Very poor |
| INTSIKA YETHU - Tsojana Supply System | 52.4% | Average |
| INTSIKA YETHU - Tsomo Service System | 56.1% | Average |
| INXUBA YETHEMBA - Cradock Supply System | 48.3% | Very poor |
| INXUBA YETHEMBA - Middelburg supply system-treated | 44.9% | Very poor |
| LUKHANJI - Queenstown Supply System | 49.0% | Very poor |
| LUKHANJI - Whittlesea Supply System | 49.2% | Very poor |
| SAKHISIZWE - (Farms & Rural - Treated) | 29.1% | Critical state |
| SAKHISIZWE - Cala Supply System | 44.2% | Very poor |
| SAKHISIZWE - Elliot Supply System | 47.3% | Very poor |
| SAKHISIZWE- Xhalanga Supply System | 42.4% | Very poor |
| SAKHISIZWE-Cala Package System | 34.9% | Very poor |
| TSOLWANA: Hofmeyer supply system | 28.8% | Critical state |
| TSOLWANA: Ntabathemba supply system | 32.2% | Very poor |
| TSOLWANA: Tarkastad Supply System | 21.0% | Critical state |
Elsewhere in Chris Hani
- Dr AB Xuma1 of 24
- Enoch Mgijima (Komani)1 of 24
- Intsika Yethu1 of 24
- Inxuba Yethemba1 of 24
- Sakhisizwe1 of 24
Drinking-water systems at high or critical risk, of all those rated.
More for Emalahleni
- Emalahleni on one pageEvery figure we hold, with its source
- EmalahleniWards, electricity, water
- Is your tap water safe?Our story
- Every municipalityTap water nationally
Source: Department of Water and Sanitation, Blue Drop Progress Assessment Report 2025: Eastern Cape, Blue Drop Report 2023: Eastern Cape, Green Drop Report 2025: Eastern Cape, No Drop Progress Assessment Report 2025 (complete), through our water quality dataset, release 2026-11-12.