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Is the tap water safe in Ngqushwa?
The government’s latest official rating puts all 37 drinking-water systems of the Amathole 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 Ngqushwa is the responsibility of the Amathole District Municipality, so the figures here are for all the district’s systems and works, not only those in Ngqushwa. The district also supplies Amahlathi, Great Kei, Mbhashe, Mnquma and Raymond Mhlaba.
- 0 of 37Drinking-water systems at high or critical riskBlue Drop risk 2024, district
- 2 of 15Sewage works in a critical stateGreen Drop 2024, below 31%
- LowWater losses riskNo Drop 2025, 33.3%
Each drinking-water system, 2024
| System | Risk |
|---|---|
| Amahlahti LM - Kei Road | Low 31.7% |
| Amahlathi LM- Cathcart | Low 34.3% |
| Amahlathi LM- Stutterheim | Low 49.8% |
| Binfield Network Supply | Medium 60.8% |
| Debe Nek Network Supply | Low 29.7% |
| Glenmore Network Supply | Low 37.6% |
| Great Kei LM - Kei Bridge WTW | Low 38.9% |
| Great Kei LM- Cinsta East | Low 31.7% |
| Great Kei LM- Haga- Haga | Low 34.4% |
| Great Kei LM- Kei Mouth | Low 38.0% |
| Great Kei LM- Morgans Bay | Low 42.2% |
| Masincedane Network Supply | Medium 57.3% |
| Mbashe LM- Cwebe | Low 25.6% |
| Mbashe LM- Dutywa | Low 27.1% |
| Mbashe LM- Dwesa | Low 17.3% |
| Mbashe LM- Elliotdale | Low 28.5% |
| Mbashe LM- Mendu | Low 46.1% |
| Mbashe LM- Willowvale | Low 24.7% |
| Mbhashe LM - Qwaninga WTW | Low 31.7% |
| Mbhashe LM- Mbhashe North WTW | Low 19.8% |
| Mbhashe LM- Nqadu WTW | Low 49.6% |
| Mbhashe LM- Xhora WSS | Low 49.3% |
| Mbhashe- Mncwasa WTW | Medium 58.0% |
| Mnquma LM - Nqamakwe WTW | Low 30.9% |
| Mnquma LM- Butterworth WTW | Low 47.5% |
| Mnquma LM- Kotana/Ehlobo | Low 19.4% |
| Mnquma LM- Qolorha | Low 23.5% |
| Mnquma LM- Tholeni | Medium 56.2% |
| Nkonkobe LM - Alice WTW | Medium 52.7% |
| Nkonkobe LM - Fort Beaufort WTW | Low 40.2% |
| Nkonkobe LM- Hogsback | Low 35.7% |
| Nkonkobe LM- Seymour | Low 40.5% |
| Nxuba LM- Adelaide | Low 29.2% |
| Nxuba LM- Bedford | Low 36.9% |
| Peddie Network Supply | Low 40.5% |
| Sandile Network Supply | Low 44.1% |
| Upper Mnyameni Network Supply | Medium 63.5% |
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 Amathole 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, 2 of the 15 works the district runs were in a critical state.
| Works | Score | Category | Releases into |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide | 50.5% | Average | Koonap River |
| Amabele | 43.8% | Very poor | Ravine River |
| Bedford | 57.3% | Average | NI |
| Cathcart | 57.3% | Average | Thorn River |
| Cintsa East | 54.2% | Average | Non perennial stream of Cintsa River |
| Dutywa | 48.9% | Very poor | Ngxakaxa River |
| Fort Beaufort | 30.0% | Critical state | Kat River |
| Gcuwa | 44.7% | Very poor | Gcuwa River |
| Kei Mouth Ponds | 61.2% | Average | Not printed |
| Keiskammahoek | 42.4% | Very poor | Not printed |
| Komga | 54.3% | Average | Not printed |
| Middledrift | 30.0% | Critical state | Not printed |
| Peddie | 41.0% | Very poor | Paradise River |
| Seymour | 50.2% | Average | Gesi River |
| Stutterheim | 55.1% | Average | Cumakala 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 Amathole District Municipality’s management of water losses at low risk (33.3%; below 50% is low risk, 90% or more critical). In 2023/24, 38% 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 medium (mostly metered). Its report counts more than 40% as extremely poor, and less than 10% as excellent.
The last full audit: Blue Drop scores, 2023 (37 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Amahlahti LM - Kei Road | 64.7% | Average |
| Amahlathi LM - Cathcart | 61.7% | Average |
| Amahlathi LM - Stutterheim | 63.5% | Average |
| Binfield | 59.4% | Average |
| Debe Nek | 59.7% | Average |
| Glenmore | 69.9% | Average |
| Great Kei LM - Cinsta East | 64.6% | Average |
| Great Kei LM - Haga- Haga | 60.4% | Average |
| Great Kei LM - Kei Bridge | 61.4% | Average |
| Great Kei LM - Kei Mouth | 77.9% | Average |
| Great Kei LM - Morgans Bay | 63.0% | Average |
| Masincedane | 50.3% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Cwebe | 63.0% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Dutywa | 63.7% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Dwesa | 54.3% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Elliotdale | 58.7% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Mbhashe North | 62.6% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Mendu | 76.2% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Mncwasa | 53.7% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Nqadu | 56.5% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Qwaninga | 69.0% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Willowvale | 59.7% | Average |
| Mbhashe LM - Xhora | 48.7% | Very poor |
| Mnquma LM - Butterworth | 55.9% | Average |
| Mnquma LM - KotanaEhlobo | 59.8% | Average |
| Mnquma LM - Nqamakwe | 62.4% | Average |
| Mnquma LM - Qolorha | 61.1% | Average |
| Mnquma LM - Tholeni | 59.7% | Average |
| Nkonkobe LM - Alice | 62.6% | Average |
| Nkonkobe LM - Fort Beaufort | 58.1% | Average |
| Nkonkobe LM - Hogsback | 66.4% | Average |
| Nkonkobe LM - Seymor | 60.5% | Average |
| Nxuba LM - Adelaide | 67.1% | Average |
| Nxuba LM - Bedford | 58.6% | Average |
| Peddie | 65.0% | Average |
| Sandile | 60.6% | Average |
| Upper Mnyameni | 54.2% | Average |
Elsewhere in Amathole
- Amahlathi0 of 37
- Great Kei0 of 37
- Mbhashe0 of 37
- Mnquma0 of 37
- Raymond Mhlaba0 of 37
Drinking-water systems at high or critical risk, of all those rated.
More for Ngqushwa
- Ngqushwa on one pageEvery figure we hold, with its source
- NgqushwaWards, 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.