RQIS is a directorate in the Water Information Management chief directorate under the Planning and Information Management
branch of the Department of Water and Sanitation.
Purpose of RQIS
RQIS provides national water resource managers with aquatic resource data, technical information,
guidelines and procedures that support the strategic and operational requirements for assessment and
protection of water resource quality. Functioning aquatic ecosystems and an adequate supply of usable water
are fundamental to the survival and development of any nation, and particularly so for water-stressed
countries like South Africa.
Water quality results
The national monitoring programmes mostly monitor "raw" surface water quality in rivers and dams and
produce long-term trend reports and visualisations of, for
example, chemistry, eutrophication, microbiology and ecosystems.
For more information on other types of water quality information,
such as municipal water supply and sewage, please follow the links on our Reports page.
Water quality analysis
Note that our laboratories only process samples registered on the national monitoring database. To look for
private laboratories, please try an Internet search, e.g.:
water analysis south africa
RQIS History: HRI-IWQS-RQS-RQIS
This directorate officially opened as the Hydrological Research Institute on 20 October 1972. In 1994 it
became IWQS, in 2003 RQS and in 2014 RQIS.
Read more here.
Former RQS on YouTube
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