WaterCAN’s latest webinar with water quality specialist Leanne Coetzee unpacked what the updated SANS 241:2025 drinking water standard means for water safety in South Africa.
Leanne took participants through the shift towards a more proactive, risk based approach to water quality management — looking at risks from catchment to tap, changes to monitoring requirements and chemical and microbiological parameters, and how authorities should respond when water quality failures are detected.
She also explored where citizen science fits into the picture, including the strengths and limitations of field testing, the WaterCAN testing toolkit, and why community generated data can provide an important early warning while supporting stronger accountability.
Watch the webinar to better understand the science behind safe drinking water and how citizens can play a meaningful role in protecting our water resources. You can download Coetzee's presentation below.
Meet our guest speaker
Few people are better placed to guide this discussion than Leanne Coetzee.
Leanne is a water treatment and water quality specialist with more than 25 years of experience in the South African water sector. She holds a Master’s degree in Microbiology and is a registered Professional Natural Scientist (Pr.Sci.Nat).
Her experience covers drinking water and wastewater treatment, water quality monitoring, laboratory quality management, process optimisation, regulatory compliance, auditing and the interpretation of water quality data.
She has also played a direct role in the development and application of South African water quality standards. Leanne has participated in the South African Water Quality Technical Committee, previously chaired committees responsible for water quality standardisation and has been closely involved with the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Blue Drop and Green Drop Certification Programmes since their inception. She currently serves as a Blue Drop Lead Assessor for the 2026 certification cycle.
Donate to WaterCAN
Across South Africa, WaterCAN’s volunteers and citizen scientists are monitoring drinking water and sanitation failures, uncovering risks, and demanding action from those responsible. We challenge polluters, call out government negligence, and stand with communities whose rights to safe water and sanitation are routinely violated. Your support keeps this watchdog work alive and powerful.
For Media Enquiries please contact WaterCAN Communications Manager on Jonathan Erasmus 073 227 6075 or email media@watercan.org.za
