South Africa’s water quality crisis

Municipal performance in providing good-quality drinking water across South Africa has deteriorated over the past five years, from 93 “good” water supply systems in 2021 to 59 in 2024.

This was outlined in a recent Parliamentary response by the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, to questions posed to her by ActionSA MP Alan Beesley.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) collects data on the drinking water compliance status of each municipality in the country, submitted through the Integrated Regulatory Information System, which ultimately determines the quality of drinking water.

For water quality, DWS categorises municipal performance as poor, average, good, or excellent.

According to the information provided by the minister, the performance of municipal water supply systems in the country over the past four years has been:

Recently, DWS said that “South Africa is facing a number of water challenges and concerns, which include security of supply, environmental degradation, resource pollution, and the inefficient use of water, which are all among the chief causes of the supply deficit.

Recently released reports by DWS — including the Green, Blue, and No Drop Reports – paint a concerning image of the current state of the provision of the essential resource, showing that at a countrywide average:

• 51% of water provided has poor to bad microbiological water quality status;
• 40.8% of water was lost due to leaks or was unaccounted for;
• 67.6% of wastewater treatments failed to adequately process sewage and other wastes.

According to another study by the department, “water demand is expected to sharply increase over the next 20 years while the water supply is likely to decline, therefore anticipating a projected supply deficit of 17% by 2030.”

Majodina said that the DWS provides support and guidance to municipalities struggling to meet the South African National Standard (SANS) requirements.

She said that this includes periodic assessments of water treatment facilities.

When asked, the Water and Sanitation said that she cannot declare a state of emergency in areas
where water provision is failing or in a critical condition requiring urgent intervention.

She said that she can, however, intervene in areas where an emergency has been declared by the Minister responsible for local government.

The DWS, Department of Cooperative Governance, Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), National Treasury, and Infrastructure Fund are collaborating to support municipalities facing budget deficits for water infrastructure improvements.

Majodina said that they will continue to allocate funding through various grants to support both refurbishment and new infrastructure projects, aiming to enhance access to clean water.

Crisis of funding and water boards

On 26 November 2024, Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations expressed concern “about a looming catastrophe where in about six to twelve months, water boards could face total collapse due to nonpayment by municipalities.”

South Africa’s water boards are owed R23.4 billion, more than 70% of which is four months overdue.

The debt hampers their ability to maintain and upgrade ageing infrastructure at a time when commercial hubs, including Johannesburg, are facing shortages.

Chairperson of the committee, Mmusi Maimane, said that “we will wake up one day in three years’ time with collapsed water boards and this committee will be faced with approving more of these costly bailouts.”

The DWS told the committee that water provision to households is the responsibility of municipalities and DWS only supports them to carry out water and sanitation responsibilities.

It further said non-payment of water services by municipalities is severe as they will not get treated water, and some have stopped maintenance of their infrastructure.

“It is concerning that in places like Emfuleni Local Municipality, sewerage spillages continue while the administration of the municipality is in shambles and there is no hope that things will get better anytime soon,” said Maimane.

Top of mind for investors

South Africa’s water security remains one of the most pressing issues for households and businesses, and continues to remain top of mind for investors.

This is outlined in Coronation’s July 2024 Correspondent, where economist Marie Antelme and ESG analyst Leila Joseph say that “water security is arguably one of the most critical risks to South Africa’s social, economic, and political long-term future.”

The fund manager’s study showed that water security emerged as the most concerning environmental issue for their clients, with 78% of respondents indicating that this should be prioritised by investors.

Unlike the electricity crisis that hampered South Africa, people cannot live and ultimately businesses cannot operate without the effective provision of water.

Read: The R1 trillion mess that government is trying to mop up