Widespread water shortages plaguing major South African metros have escalated from a chronic inconvenience to a severe national concern, with experts pointing to decades of infrastructure neglect and poor planning as the core of the crisis.
The issue was thrust into the spotlight recently by protests in communities like Westbury and Coronationville, where residents, fed up with intermittent supply, demanded a reliable water source. The problem, however, extends far beyond Johannesburg, affecting residents in Pretoria, Durban, and other urban centres.
In an interview, Professor Anja du Plessis, a water management expert at UNISA, framed the situation as a “localized water crisis” rapidly intensifying due to a perfect storm of factors. She described a system in a state of disrepair, where even dams at full capacity cannot guarantee water from household taps.
“The reason why we are here is due to neglect, no action,” Prof. du Plessis stated. “Our infrastructure is in a state… over the past couple of decades, we haven’t invested enough.” She vividly described the situation as a “leaking bucket,” where a critical 30-40% of treated water is lost to leaks before it ever reaches consumers.
The crisis is compounded by a failure to keep pace with rapid urbanization. Prof. du Plessis explained that rural-urban migration and economic expansion have drastically increased demand, while water storage and infrastructure development have not matched the pace.
“The pace of our water storage has not met that rate,” she said. “You’re sitting with a bucket that’s too small for the amount of activities and people that require the water.”
The professor also highlighted the stark inequity in water access. While formal suburbs face interruptions, informal settlements face a near-total “lack of water services,” often characterized by broken taps, leaking JoJo tanks, and residents being forced to share water sources with livestock.
“When we look at the statistics, they would say that water access has increased over the past three decades. But what we are seeing on the ground is even though you have a tap, that does not mean that you actually have water that’s coming out of it,” du Plessis noted.
While acknowledging some municipal efforts to improve response times and communication, she stressed that communities on the ground are yet to see results. The situation is further threatened by climate variability, with forecasts predicting above-normal temperatures and below-average rainfall, which will drive up demand and strain resources even further.
Looking ahead, Prof. du Plessis called for a multi-faceted approach. She urged communities to adopt water-saving measures, rainwater harvesting, and storage solutions to become less reliant on crumbling municipal systems. On a national level, she emphasized the critical need for the government to move beyond reports—like the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Blue and Green Drop reports—and enforce actionable solutions, including appointing competent service providers where municipalities have failed.
With systems requiring years to repair and climate pressures mounting, the expert’s analysis presents a stark warning: South Africa’s water security is on a knife’s edge, demanding immediate and drastic intervention at every level of society.
