South Africa has elevated water to the top of its agenda, with the three spheres of government having agreed to, and implementing, a range of measures to mitigate the country’s pressing water challenges and reduce the risk of disruptions.

In Gauteng, where prolonged water outages are becoming a regular occurrence, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) continues to work with the provincial government, Rand Water and all municipalities, with daily and weekly technical-level meetings held to ensure a well-coordinated approach to managing water supply disruptions, says Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina.

The City of Johannesburg and other parts of the province have been experiencing water supply disruptions, exacerbated by high water leakages in municipal water distribution systems, illegal connections and high average water consumption per capita in Gauteng, which is 60% greater than the world average.

South Africa’s most populous province is not the only region grappling with water supply challenges.

Across the country, communities face frequent water supply disruptions, sewerage spillages and deteriorating infrastructure, with the average reliability of water supply having declined to 67%, while nonrevenue water – owing to leaks, theft and inefficiencies – has surged to 47%.

South Africa’s average water consumption of 218 ℓ/d per capita far exceeds the global average of 173 ℓ/d, which places immense pressure on available resources, a situation compounded by climate variability and rapid urbanisation.

In addition, there is a decline in water quality, threatening public health and exacerbating inequality.

The Platform for Water Secure Gauteng, a collaboration between all three spheres of government, business and civil society leaders to provide better information to residents regarding water supply issues in the province, is developing a communication and awareness campaign to raise consciousness on the need to use water more sparingly.

“The demand-supply relationship for treated water in Gauteng is very tight and the system is vulnerable to disruptions caused by heavy loadshedding, electromechanical breakdowns or theft of cables,” Majodina comments.

Recent breakdowns of electrical facilities in the electricity distribution systems of the City of Johannesburg and Emfuleni local municipality disrupted the operations of Rand Water’s critical Eikenhof pumpstation and Vereeniging water treatment works, which rely on municipal electricity supply systems for power.

This left Rand Water unable to pump sufficient water into reservoirs serving parts of Johannesburg, Emfuleni, Ekurhuleni, the Rand West, Mogale City and Merafong.

City Power repaired its breakdown within an hour and Emfuleni local municipality within a day.

To reduce the risk of further breakdowns of the electrical substation in Emfuleni, which provides power to Rand Water’s Vereeniging water treatment works, Eskom has agreed to immediately assist Emfuleni local municipality in ensuring that the substation is properly maintained and operated.

“Eikenhof remains the primary supply to Rand Water’s pumpstation. In this regard, City Power has started implementing plans to strengthen supply to Eikenhof. Among other things, the plan involves upgrading of Eikenhof substation,” the Minister continues.

Nationally, water has been elevated to one of the apex national priorities, with President Cyril Ramaphosa highlighting in his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) in February that government plans to spend over R940-billion on infrastructure over the next three years to revitalise roads and bridges, build dams and waterways, modernise ports and airports and power South Africa’s economy.

“In response, our department is identifying key unfunded projects, [including] both national water resource infrastructure and water services infrastructure, to be considered for funding by the National Treasury. This will put the department in a good position to gain access to the R100-billion mentioned by the President.”

The DWS is also developing innovative ways of funding infrastructure, including engaging local and international financial institutions and investors to unlock R100-billion in infrastructure financing.

To date, the Infrastructure Fund has secured R23-billion for seven large water infrastructure projects.

“We are taking a series of decisive actions to resolve the water crisis, to enable our people to get water where they live, whether in townships or rural areas,” Majodina says.

Ramaphosa said during his SoNA that, starting this year, government will work with municipalities to establish professionally managed, ring-fenced utilities for water and electricity services to ensure that there is adequate investment and maintenance.

“We will expand our support to municipalities that require assistance, drawing on the lessons of the Presidential eThekwini Working Group.”

Majodina assures that the DWS will play a similarly leading role in any other Presidential Working Groups set up for other metropolitan municipalities or major towns.

Further, the DWS will continue to offer support to municipalities in the form of grant funding, appointing water boards as implementing agents to help struggling municipalities to delivery, planning support, support for partnerships through the Water Partnerships Office and general water services management advice.

“We will support the review of the funding model for municipalities, as many of them do not have a viable and sustainable revenue base. The DWS is prioritising the effective use of allocated funds to implement key initiatives that will transform the water sector and uplift struggling communities.”

According to Majodina, included in the DWS-driven measures are interventions to halt the decline in water supply reliability, reduce water losses, improve efficiency and secure supply by improving municipal water infrastructure through enhanced maintenance, refurbishment and expansion.