How to read your Drinking Water Report - SANS241

SANS 241 is South Africa's national standard for drinking water quality. The 2025 edition replaces SANS 241:2015 and changes the question from "did this sample pass?" to "are the risks in this water supply understood and managed?" Here is what that means, and how to read the report you receive from Water Check.

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What changed in SANS 241:2025

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• From checklist to risk. Comparing results against a table of limits is no longer enough. Water suppliers are expected to assess risks across the whole system, from the source through treatment and storage to the tap, and to build their monitoring around those risks.

• Core and risk-based parameters. A core set, such as E. coli and turbidity, is tested in every system. Others, such as certain metals, pesticides and disinfection by-products, are tested where the risk assessment shows they could be present.

• Tighter limits. Some limits are stricter. Turbidity, for example, must now be 1 NTU or lower, and the aluminium limit has dropped from 300 to 200 µg/L.

• Compliance is shown over time. One good result is not proof of safe water. Too little monitoring data is itself treated as non-compliance.

• Emerging contaminants. Substances such as pharmaceutical residues and PFAS are listed as parameters of concern, to be watched even though limits are not yet set.

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What this means for you

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If you have a borehole or rainwater tank at home, SANS 241 remains the benchmark for water you drink. Risk-based thinking simply means looking at your own system: what is near the source, how the water is stored, and what treatment is in place.

If your business supplies water to staff, guests or customers, expect auditors to ask for a risk assessment and a monitoring programme, not only a lab report. We can help you choose the right tests and set a monitoring schedule.

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How to read your Water Check report

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1. Report details. The top of the report shows your report number, reference, who it was prepared for and the date.

2. Review of results. This gives the overall outcome, Compliant or Not Compliant, and names the standard your sample was compared to.

3. Results table. Each row is one parameter, grouped as Microbiological, Physico-Chemical or Macro Parameters. Compare the "Results" column with the "Standard limit (SANS 241)" column. Any result outside the limit is highlighted in red.

4. Risk column. This tells you why a parameter matters and how urgently to act:

   • Acute health: can cause illness after short exposure, such as E. coli or nitrate. Stop drinking the water until it is resolved.

   • Chronic health: a concern over long-term exposure, such as fluoride.

   • Aesthetic: affects taste, smell, colour or staining, such as chloride or sodium.

   • Operational: shows how well your treatment or plumbing is working, such as turbidity, pH or heterotrophic plate count.

5. Units and symbols. Most results are in mg/L. Bacteria are reported as a count per 100 mL or per mL, and turbidity in NTU. "≤" means "at or below", and "<" before a result means the level was too low for the laboratory to measure.

6. Next steps. We explain the risks behind any red result and recommend treatment and retesting.

One red result does not always mean your water is unsafe to drink. The risk category tells you how serious it is.

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Already have a lab report you can't make sense of? Send it to us and let's check it.

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Sources:

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• SANS 241 Has Changed, What It Means For You (Infrastructure News)

• SANS 241 Evolves: It's Not The List, It's The Risk (Infrastructure News)

• Water standard raises bar but enforcement remains weak link (The Citizen)

• Water Check report example (write-up)