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Is the tap water safe in Musina?

The government’s latest official rating puts all 17 drinking-water systems of the Vhembe District Municipality 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 Musina is the responsibility of the Vhembe District Municipality, so the figures here are for all the district’s systems and works, not only those in Musina. The district also supplies Collins Chabane, Makhado and Thulamela.

Each drinking-water system, 2024

SystemRisk
Damani water systemLow 37.2%
Dzindi Water SystemLow 33.3%
Dzingahe Water SystemLow 25.5%
Elim Water SystemLow 29.0%
Khalavha Water SystemMedium 63.9%
Luphephe- Nwanedi Water SystemLow 48.4%
Makhado (Louis Trichardt) Water SystemLow 39.1%
Malamulele Water SystemLow 31.3%
Musina Water SystemLow 39.3%
Mutale water systemLow 37.9%
Mutshedzi water systemLow 37.2%
Thohoyandou NR6 Water SupplyLow 31.0%
Tshakhuma Water SystemLow 47.8%
Tshedza water supply systemLow 34.7%
Tshifhire Murunwa Water SystemLow 33.0%
Vondo Water SystemLow 47.2%
Xikundu Water SystemLow 44.2%

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 Vhembe 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 Limpopo has each system’s full scorecard: Blue Drop Progress Assessment Report 2025: Limpopo.

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, none of the 14 works the district runs were in a critical state.

WorksScoreCategoryReleases into
Biaba32.5%Very poorNwambedi River
Harper36.5%Very poorSand River
Hlanganani33.0%Very poorNo Discharge
Malamulele46.7%Very poorShingwedzi River
Mhinga43.7%Very poorNo Discharge
Musina37.5%Very poorNot printed
Mutale34.6%Very poorNot printed
Nancefield46.2%Very poorMalala Stream to the Limpopo River
Rietvlei57.0%AverageLitshovhu River
Thohoyandou72.3%AverageMvudi River
Tshifulanani37.1%Very poorNo Discharge
Vleifontein34.2%Very poorNot printed
Vuwani42.9%Very poorNo Discharge
Waterval_Vembe71.1%AverageNot printed

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 Vhembe District 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 (17 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.

SystemScoreCategory
Damani74.6%Average
Dzindi62.6%Average
Dzingahe67.0%Average
Elim57.1%Average
Luphephe-Nwanedi60.7%Average
Makhado64.3%Average
Malamulele70.4%Average
Musina52.2%Average
Mutale68.5%Average
Mutshedzi63.9%Average
Ndzelele52.9%Average
Thohoyandou56.1%Average
Tshakhuma57.9%Average
Tshedza56.2%Average
Tshifhire Murunwa54.8%Average
Vondo65.8%Average
Xikundu65.7%Average

Elsewhere in Vhembe

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

More for Musina

Source: Department of Water and Sanitation, Blue Drop Progress Assessment Report 2025: Limpopo, Blue Drop Report 2023: Limpopo, Green Drop Report 2025: Limpopo, No Drop Progress Assessment Report 2025 (complete), through our water quality dataset, release 2026-11-12.

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