• Nonjabulo Sabatha, a seven-year-old girl from Dube in Soweto, was rushed to hospital after drinking dirty tap water containing E.coli.

• Sanelisiwe Sabatha now spends about R2,820 a month on bottled water to protect her family from the dirty tap water.

A seven-year-old girl from Dube in Soweto almost died from drinking dirty tap water. Nonjabulo Sabatha, a Grade 1 learner, suffered from stomach pains for weeks. Her mother, Sanelisiwe Sabatha, rushed her to hospital after the young girl started throwing up a lot.

Doctors ran several tests but could not find the problem at first. Sanelisiwe asked them to test her daughter's stool. The doctor then found that Nonjabulo had an E.coli infection.

Sanelisiwe said she stopped boiling their drinking water two years ago. She was shocked when the doctor told her that boiling water at home does not always make it safe to drink.

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Old pipes and water cuts are making more people sick. The doctor told the family he has treated many children for E.coli since the start of the year.

Nonjabulo is still recovering from the infection. Her mother now buys bottled water, which costs her about R2,820 a month.

"My budget has gone up by almost R2,000 for water only. I must also call a plumber to fit our kitchen tap with a water filter," Sanelisiwe said.

The 2025 Blue Drop Progress Report states that water in Gauteng is mostly safe. The report shows that 86% of the water systems in the province are low-risk.

But it warns that water quality is dropping. The risk of getting sick goes up during water shortages, and E.coli is a growing problem in Johannesburg.

Sanelisiwe said she worries about people who do not have money. "I honestly worry about the less fortunate, I mean, imagine being killed by tap water because you can't afford bottled water," she said.