Data suggests that South Africa is approaching a water crisis which, if left unchecked, could eclipse the load-shedding crisis that defined that decade to 2024.
This crisis is growing, even though the country’s dams are full.
On 29 June, South Africa’s dam levels were nearly 97% full, with provinces like the Free State, Limpopo, the Northern Cape, North West and Gauteng all exceeding 100% capacity. Despite the dams overflowing with water, nearly 28% of households in 2025 experienced water interruptions lasting longer than 48 hours at a time, and 20% experienced cumulative water interruptions for more than 15 days for the year.
Although the vast majority (87%) of South Africans have access to piped water, this is negated by the fact that only 62% of water supply systems in the country is supplied by systems that present a low risk to drinking water safety. This is according to the latest Blue Drop Report from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).
The report, which uses the Blue Drop Risk Ratio to assess the risk associated with water services provision and their impact on human health, classifies a fifth (20%) of the country’s systems as medium risk, and a further 18% as high or critical risk.
This means that 38% of water systems are vulnerable and require urgent intervention to improve the safety of drinking water.
The crisis is further compounded by a collapse in wastewater treatment works (WWTWs). This is evident from the latest Green Drop Report, which focuses on the reliability of wastewater infrastructure. The number of WWTWs that were rated as ‘excellent’ fell from 40 in 2011 to 14 in 2024, while those rated as ‘good’ fell from 78 to 52.
During the same period, the number of WWTS that were rated as ‘poor’ rose from 143 to 169, while those rated as being in ‘critical state’ increased from 317 to 396.
The consequences of water and wastewater infrastructure failure extend far beyond household inconvenience. Some of the country’s most important economic sectors, that between them employ millions of South Africans and generate a substantial share of export revenue, are all critically water-dependent. According to the DWS, the agricultural sector alone accounts for at least 61% of the country’s water consumption.
More than 3 million jobs (18% of all employment in the country) were generated in the agricultural, mining and manufacturing sectors.
Poor municipal performance
Yet these vital economic sectors are increasingly seeing their performance hampered by poor municipal performance. The mining industry, already troubled by poor policies, has endured material damage due to water shortages in the recent past.
Anglo American blamed a 9% drop in platinum production at its Rustenburg operations in 2023 on a five-day water stoppage. According to Deloitte’s 2023 insights on African mining, 15% of unplanned downtime at some of the country’s mines has been linked to water issues. Libstar’s Dickon Hall Foods facility, a factory linked to wet food products such as sauces and chutneys, cited ongoing water challenges as one of the main reasons why it had to halt operations in Johannesburg. The company had to regularly truck in water, slashing its profits by R17 million.
Water issues are increasingly playing a greater role in business confidence, especially in Gauteng, where the country’s largest city, Johannesburg, has implemented so called ‘water shedding’ in the last few years. In the case of Libstar’s Dickon Hall Foods, the operation has integrated with Montagu Foods in the Western Cape.
Businesses may increasingly relocate to the Western Cape, as the province appears to have more reliable infrastructure. Only 4.9% of Western Cape households experienced water interruptions for longer than two days, compared with more than 40% in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.
Emerging crisis
The emerging crisis, now present in most provinces, has developed over many years for numerous reasons. These issues include inadequate maintenance, ageing infrastructure, technical skills shortages, governance instability and insufficient investment in municipal water and sanitation services.
Estimates of the infrastructure backlog run into hundreds of billions of rands.
Yet the cost of inaction – in public health emergencies, in productivity losses, in reputational damage to South Africa as an investment destination – will dwarf the cost of a credible, sustained repair and expansion programme.
The question is not whether South Africa can afford to fix its water infrastructure. The question is whether it can afford not to.
[Image: Water Drop Creating Ripples in Liquid by foodphotoalex]
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