Celebrated in glass

“DRINKING this tap water is one of the safest things you can do in Pietermaritzburg” reads the label on a bottle of water at a pizza restaurant in the capital of KwaZulu-Natal.

And according to the 2014 Blue Drop report card, they are right. The town was the highestranked in the province and among the highest in the country in terms of its water quality.

According to the scoring system, the Msunduzi municipality scored 98% in the assessment, carried out every two years. It was one of just 44 water supply systems to get official Blue Drop status, which is awarded to municipalities that score above 95%. It was the third consecutive time it achieved the benchmark.

The report confirms what Pizzology Craft Café owner Geoff Tennant has known for a while. Tennant thought it was unnecessary to sell mineral water when the city has such goodquality tap water.

Heidi Matisonn, Tennant’s partner, said: “We came across an article on Maritzburg’s Blue Drop status and thought: ‘Why not make the most of it?’ ”

On the funky red, white and black label above the name TAPPING IN: Waitress Nwabisa Nkothe pours Msunduzi water at Pizzology Craft Café in Pietermaritzburg Msunduzi, are the words “pure unfiltered tap”. She said they have had requests from people to buy the bottles.

Brenden Sivpersad, a senior manager in the municipality’s water and sanitation department, said he was delighted by the result. Ordinarily, the municipality came second to the bigger, more illustrious eThekwini. But not this time.