- \n
- 51% of water has poor to bad microbiological quality,<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Non-revenue water losses sits at 47.4%,<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 40.8% is lost due to leaks or unaccounted for, and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- 67.6% of wastewater treatment plants fail to properly process sewage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Reports vary, but the cost of revenue loss due to unaccounted-for water is estimated to be more than R16 billion annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was evident when BusinessTech recently travelled across cities and towns in the North West, Free State, and the Northern Cape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents and businesses consistently cited issues related to water and sanitation as the most dire issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramaphosa stated that the new legislation forms part of broader water sector reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Act aims to consolidate responsibilities under a single body to enhance critical water infrastructure projects’ planning, implementation, and funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its key objectives include ensuring a sustainable and equitable water supply, improving water quality, boosting infrastructure investment, reducing management fragmentation, and attracting private-sector funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NWRIA will implement water projects identified by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and collect water usage charges to fund operations and infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ramaphosa stressed that ageing infrastructure, vandalism, illegal connections, organised crime, financial mismanagement, and high water losses have severely undermined service delivery and deterred private investment in water infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To strengthen its financial base, the NWRIA will take over the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority\u2019s (TCTA) commercial operations, gaining assets to better leverage funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The TCTA, a state-owned entity, has struggled with insufficient assets to secure large-scale project funding\u2014an issue the Act seeks to address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, Ramaphosa underscored the importance of regulatory reform, including the Water Services Amendment Bill, which introduces a licensing system for water service providers and revokes licenses if standards for drinking water quality are not met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Untitled-design-5-1-1024x576.png\")
<\/a>Residents of Ditsobotla collect water from private boreholes is a daily task. Photo: Seth Thorne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/2-2-1024x576.png\")
<\/a>Children of Ditsobotla collecting water from a dirty, burst pipe to take to their community. Photo: Seth Thorne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Mixed reactions to the NWRIA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
There has been a large debate about the establishment of a new water SOE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legal experts at Webber Wentzel, Calvin Nchabeleng and Makgati Makgatho\u00a0said<\/a>, “the Bill creates an opportunity for the national government to address issues relating to water security outside of South Africa\u2019s constrained fiscal environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Visiting Professor at the Wits School of Governance\u00a0Mike Muller previously\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0that this new arrangement could ensure that the needed funds<\/span>\u00a0are properly applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis will avert the kind of problems that resulted when billions of rands meant for operation, maintenance and loan repayments were irregularly diverted<\/a> by a previous Minister of Water and Sanitation for a spurious \u2018War on Leaks\u2019 project that never fixed a single leak,\u201d said Muller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, others worry about adding another state-owned enterprise, given the notorious performance of some of the existing ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr Ferrial Adam, executive manager of the water rights advocacy group WaterCAN,\u00a0previously<\/a>\u00a0expressed her concern with BusinessTech.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe one confusing thing for me is I believe one of the other objectives is to ensure sustainable and equitable supply \u2013 but isn\u2019t that already an objective of the department?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She underscored the importance of transparency and accountability, cautioning that \u201cSOEs can and have become breeding grounds for corruption if mismanaged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Establishing the agency will require a significant financial commitment, prompting an appeal for private sector involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response, Adam highlighted the need for clarity on the proposed funding model and raised concerns about whether such a partnership signals a potential shift toward privatisation\u2014a move that has proven globally not always to enhance accessibility or affordability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Experts, however, argue that the success of the NWRIA will depend on several critical factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Appointing a capable and independent board of directors;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Engaging effectively with local communities;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Tackling longstanding issues of corruption and mismanagement in the water sector.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Experts warn that Without these safeguards, the agency risks becoming another SOE plagued by corruption and inefficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-10-1024x576.png\")
<\/a>One of the many leaks that can be found across Johannesburg. Photo: Seth Thorne <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Untitled-design-22-1024x576.png\")
<\/a>Another abandoned water repair in Johannesburg. Photo: Seth Thorne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Cyril Ramaphosa says that a new state-owned company for water will be in operation by 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":758649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1293,17979,22147,10755,22146],"class_list":["post-818544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-cyril-ramaphosa","tag-department-of-water-and-sanitation","tag-national-water-resource-infrastructure-agency","tag-water","tag-water-and-sanitation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818544"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818619,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818544\/revisions\/818619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}