Water crisis in South Africa characterized by leaking pipes, faulty pumps, and reliance on tankers

Residents of Durban regularly face water shortages due to outdated infrastructure and frequent outages, which negatively affects their health and daily lives. Josini Perumal interviewed local residents, who shared their problems and the municipality's efforts to resolve this crisis.

Residents of Bluff, Merebank, Montclair, Cato Manor, Clairwood, Umbile, Bellair, Beyhead, Yellowwood Park and surrounding areas experienced six days without water supply, which ended on Sunday. The cause of the latest water disruption in the southern areas of Durban was a pipe burst at the Wiggins Water Treatment Plant.

Regular water outages in Durban and neighboring settlements have become commonplace for citizens. The eThekwini Municipality often finds itself in a difficult situation, responding to angry residents facing a lack of water. The main problems cited by the municipality are damaged pipelines, aging infrastructure, and vandalism.

After water flowed from the Wiggins Water Treatment Plant infrastructure, the supply was restored on Sunday. Specialized teams worked around the clock to locate and fix various leaks on the 750 mm steel pipe.

When the correspondent visited Bluff, the level of frustration among residents was very high, as they walked to water tankers set up in the area. Ronnie Naidu, 59, reported that his family of six had been suffering from the flu, and it was difficult for them to maintain hygiene without water. He noted that the outages affect both health and daily life.

Patsy Reddy, 66, recounted that when the water was cut off on Tuesday, she had no reserves. She could not cook, use the toilet, or clean the house. She recalled managing to get water from a tanker later, but being elderly and ill, she could only manage two five-liter bottles. She was distressed watching older people try to quickly reach the tankers, carrying heavy buckets and bottles.

Her son, Terino Reddy, 36, stated that after work on Tuesday, he could not use the toilet or bath. He expressed hope for infrastructure maintenance to avoid such situations in the future.

Another resident, Caitlin Taylor, shared that they had to travel to relatives in Amanzimtoti every morning and evening to shower before and after work. She noted that the outages increase costs and create inconvenience.

Mbali Humalo and her children, who were walking to the tanker on Marine Drive, expressed disappointment over the disruptions. Humalo emphasized the need to accelerate repair work to preserve human dignity and insisted that residents should not be deprived of the basic right to water for days on end without a clear plan from the city.

Former ward councilor Duncan Du Bois reported that water started flowing into the Bluff reservoir on Saturday, but this flow was brief due to excessive demand, leading to the rapid depletion of the Bluff Tower and further water shortages. He added that on Sunday, the sixth day without water, the supply was finally restored, and although water trucks were available, this created great difficulty for the elderly and those without transport.

Professor Hope Magidimisha-Chipungu from the University of South Africa (UKZN), Chair of the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) for inclusive cities, noted that the interruptions have become so frequent that many families have started organizing their routines around storage containers, municipal updates, and the uncertain time of water restoration.

She explained that the causes of these failures are multifaceted: Durban's water supply system is under pressure due to aging infrastructure, rapid urban growth, climate change, power outages affecting water infrastructure, vandalism, and the aftermath of the devastating floods of 2022, which damaged critical municipal infrastructure. The municipality also pointed to reduced production at treatment plants during algal blooms and periods of extremely high demand.

Magidimisha-Chipungu stressed the importance of acknowledging the measures already being taken. The eThekwini Municipality is investing in the rehabilitation of aging water infrastructure, modernization of main pipelines, strengthening the Southern Aqueduct, and increasing the reliability of the urban water supply system. Leak repair programs have been expanded, and communication with residents during major disruptions has become more regular.

However, she warned that acknowledging progress should not prevent an honest analysis. Residents expect assurance that current projects are moving the city towards reliable water supply. They also demand timely information, realistic restoration timelines, and greater transparency in the work. Trust is built not only on engineering solutions but also on accountability and consistency.

In Magidimisha-Chipungu's view, one of Durban's biggest opportunities is reducing water losses. The municipality acknowledged that non-revenue water—water lost due to leaks, bursts, illegal connections, and metering errors—remains a serious operational problem. Recent reports show positive trends: non-revenue water has decreased from approximately 58% to 53%.

The eThekwini Municipality and uMngeni-uThukela Water indicated that reducing losses through maintenance and demand management is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to strengthen water security. Investments in maintaining existing infrastructure are just as valuable as new ones, as they protect already treated, pumped, and paid-for resources.

Magidimisha-Chipungu called for shifting the focus from emergency response to prevention. Preventive maintenance, loss reduction, infrastructure modernization, and the implementation of smart technologies for leak monitoring and detection have become necessary investments in the city's future sustainability. She concluded that access to clean water is a constitutional right and the foundation of human dignity for residents of areas like Tongaat, Shalcross, and Bluff.

The tragic death of Selani Zungu, who was fatally struck by a municipal water tanker in Adams Mission, Durban, on Sunday, has sparked public discussions about the human cost of the water crisis in South Africa. In addition to this incident, in 2024, a father of three passed away while collecting water from a borehole in Vereulam.

For many years, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has conducted investigations into water crises in provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. In some areas, residents are forced to rely on water tankers or purchase water.

Dr. Olinka Adeniyi from the University of Pretoria's Centre for Human Rights stated that access to sufficient water is an inalienable human right in South Africa, according to Section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution, which guarantees everyone the right to access adequate water. Section 27(2) obliges the state to take reasonable legislative and other measures within its available resources for the progressive realisation of this right.

Furthermore, the Municipal Services Act 108 of 1997 establishes the regulatory framework for access to basic water supply and permits the adoption of national standards governing water supply. These rules prescribe minimum standards regarding the quantity and quality of drinking water that must be supplied during specified periods.

Adeniyi emphasized that water is vital for health, hygiene, sanitation, cooking, and human dignity. He added that access to water is closely linked to other constitutional rights, including the right to healthcare, adequate housing, education, and a healthy environment.

He clarified that the right to water does not mean that water must be delivered to every person via an individual household connection. Depending on circumstances, water can come through taps in homes, communal taps, boreholes, storage tanks, or other suitable systems. The main question is whether people have reasonable, fair, and reliable access to sufficient and safe water supply.

Adeniyi noted that a temporary interruption in water supply is not automatically a constitutional violation. Instead, the key issue is how reasonable, effective, transparent, and fair the state's response is, and whether it aims to restore sustainable water supply within a reasonable timeframe. Ultimately, all these aspects relate to the protection of human dignity.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced the allocation of R156 billion for water and sanitation infrastructure over the next three years. Mariette Lefferslink from the Federation for Sustainable Environment explained that due to the dysfunction of treatment facilities in most municipalities, water quality has deteriorated to such an extent that some major river systems in South Africa are in irreparable condition.

Lefferslink stated that deteriorating water quality, which is not treated by municipalities, is occurring due to broken infrastructure and lack of modernization. She also pointed out that the Department of Water and Sanitation Master Plan showed a 17% deficit between water supply and demand by 2030. The plan recommended reusing wastewater (including acid mine drainage) to bridge this gap.

Lefferslink highlighted the link between water quality and quantity: low water quality reduces supply volume, rendering the water unusable. She cited observations by UN Special Rapporteur on Toxins and Human Rights, Dr. Marcos Orellana, who noted that South Africa continues to face apartheid-era environmental racism, where poor and marginalized communities disproportionately bear the burden of pollution.

Lefferslink concluded that the tragic case of the man killed by a water truck serves as an example of how often rural or poor communities pay for this environmental racism. A representative from the Department of Water and Sanitation, Visane Mavasa, reported that responsibility for ensuring water delivery lies with municipalities, but the department considers non-commercial losses caused by leaks, pipe bursts, outdated infrastructure, and illegal connections nationwide as the primary source of deficit and water loss.