Free tools · Drinking water · Northern Cape

Is the tap water safe in !Kheis?

The government’s latest official rating puts 6 of the 7 drinking-water systems in !Kheis at high or critical risk, and 1 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.

6 of 7Drinking-water systems at high or critical riskBlue Drop risk 2024
2 of 2Sewage works in a critical stateGreen Drop 2024, below 31%
CriticalWater losses riskNo Drop 2025, 100.0%

Each drinking-water system, 2024

System	Risk
Brandboom/Boegoeberg	High 87.5%
Gariep	High 72.2%
Groblershoop	High 87.5%
Grootdrink	High 87.5%
Opwag: Zuma Valley	Low 49.0%
Topline	High 87.5%
Wegdraai	High 87.5%

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 !Kheis Local 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 Northern Cape has each system’s full scorecard: Blue Drop Progress Assessment Report 2025: Northern 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, all 2 works in !Kheis were in a critical state.

Works	Score	Category	Releases into
Brandboom	26.5%	Critical state	No Discharge
Groblershoop	8.3%	Critical state	No Discharge

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 !Kheis Local Municipality’s management of water losses at critical risk (100.0%; below 50% is low risk, 90% or more critical).

The last full audit: Blue Drop scores, 2023 (7 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
Brandboom Boegoeberg	33.7%	Very poor
Gariep	30.8%	Critical state
Groblershoop	33.1%	Very poor
Grootdrink	28.4%	Critical state
Opwag: Zuma Valley	32.5%	Very poor
Topline	34.3%	Very poor
Wegdraai	17.3%	Critical state

Elsewhere in Z F Mgcawu

Drinking-water systems at high or critical risk, of all those rated.

More for !Kheis

!Kheis on one pageEvery figure we hold, with its source
!KheisWards, 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: Northern Cape, Blue Drop Report 2023: Northern Cape, Green Drop Report 2025: Northern Cape, No Drop Progress Assessment Report 2025 (complete), through our water quality dataset, release 2026-11-12.