south africa water crisislatest news & developments
Down the drain: Failures in municipal infrastructure are leaving residents without reliable water supply. Almost 50% of the country’s precious resource is lost before it reaches consumers. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Poor upkeep behind water crisis, civil engineers say

They have stressed the need for skilled oversight and preventive maintenance

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Troubled waters: Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke has warned that several factors, including poor governance and infrastructure decay, have compounded the problem of delivering clean drinking water. Photo: Ntswe Mokoena/GCIS

AG warns of deepening water crisis 

A special audit has exposed failing infrastructure, high losses and mismanaged municipal water services

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Foul: Pigs root in sludge in Emfuleni municipality. (Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Unsafe water found in taps, water storage tanks across South Africa, citizen tests reveal

Scientists tested South Africa’s water. What they found was alarming: E. coli, sewage pollution and unsafe drinking water reaching directly into homes

  • Sheree Bega
5 min read
The Klipspruit river polluted by sewage and mine waste in Soweto. (File photo by Delwyn Verasamy)

Environmental injustice is becoming the new normal – we must resist it

On World Environment Day, we must challenge – in word and deed – the assumption that environmental issues are somehow separate from daily life

  • Des Erasmus
6 min read
Trashed: It is not only sewage that contaminates Gauteng’s rivers. They are used as rubbish dumps, as this litter trap installed last winter in Ekurhuleni by the NGO Fresh shows. Photo: Fresh

Hennops, the river of disease and death flowing through Gauteng

Hennops, the river of disease and death flowing through Gauteng

  • Sheree Bega
11 min read
Lost it: The party’s deputy president, Paul Mashatile, was not amused by the union boo brigade. Photo: OJ Koloti/Gallo Images

Water crisis rooted in infrastructure failures and municipal distress, says Mashatile

The deputy president says decaying water systems and financial strain at municipalities are driving SA’s water shortage

  • Eyaaz
5 min read
(Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

South Africans must embrace drinking treated sewage water or risk severe shortages

Failing infrastructure and increased demand means Gauteng residents may soon have to rely on treated sewage to quench their thirst

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read