Communities' perceptions of the health implications of water quality in the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa
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Date
2026
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Emeris
Abstract
One of the most significant factors influencing human health is the quality of drinking water.
Many countries, particularly developing countries, have poor drinking water quality. This has
led to a number of waterborne illness outbreaks in these countries. The availability of clean
drinking water is a universal human right, but the quality of water varies from community to
community. Community members are the main beneficiaries when the water quality is good,
but they are also the first to suffer from the effects of declining and poor water quality. It has
been suggested that a community's attitudes and levels of knowledge regarding water
quality influences their judgments of the health implications of using it for drinking.
This study explored community perceptions of health implications of water quality in the
Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Province (South Africa).
A qualitative research design was employed with a purposive sampling method. Fifteen (15)
participants (seven males and eight females) were identified to take part in the study from
the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, between March and April 2025. Semi-structured
interviews were used to collect data and interviews were audio recorded and later
transcribed using Word dictate. The data was then analyzed using coding and thematic data
analysis.
The findings of the present study present six themes which are: Knowledge, attitudes and
practices of the community on health and quality of the water, perceptions of the community
regarding water quality and its impact on health, community members experiences of waterrelated
health issues, factors affecting the community’s perception of water quality risks,
recommendations to enhance health education and water quality and infrastructure for water
quality development in response to population growth and urbanization.
The findings of the study indicate that the poor quality of drinking water for community
members in Steve Tshwete Local Municipality is due to poor waste disposal, poor
maintenance of water systems, continuous pipe bursts, increased population growth, illegal
connections to the reticulation pipeline and the vandalism of infrastructure.
The research recommends that the local municipality of Steve Tshwete could improve
service delivery to the community by investing in water infrastructure and maintenance of
water plant process to ensure sustainable water management practices. Policymakers and
stakeholders should collaborate to increase educational knowledge and awareness about
the drinking water quality. The researcher recommendations focus on the policy, practice
and further research of the study findings.
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Keywords
Community perception, Water quality, Environmental health, Health, Mining