PYTR Class

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Unequal access to clean water and sanitation poses risks to human health and sustainable development, disproportionately affecting marginalised groups like Indigenous communities and low-income households.

• 74% of the global population (2 billion people) lack safely managed drinking water.
• 1.2 billion people lack even basic water service.
• Between 2015 and 2020, the global population with safely managed sanitation increased from 47% to 54%.

Water and Sanitation Challenges in South Africa

• South Africa is a water-scarce country with significant challenges in water and sanitation services.
• Key issues include:
  • Insufficient infrastructure maintenance and investment.
  • Recurring drought.
  • Unequal access.
  • Deteriorating water quality.

Household Access to Water

• According to the 2019 General Household Survey:
  • Households with access to improved water sources (piped connections, public standpipes, protected wells/springs) increased from 84.4% to 88.2% between 2002 and 2018.
  • In 2019, 44.9% of households had piped water in their dwelling.
  • 3.1% of households had to collect water from rivers, springs, and wells.
  • South Africa loses 1.5 billion m³ of water annually due to faulty piping infrastructure (Mission 2017).

Household Access to Sanitation

• Over 13.5 million households (80%) had improved sanitation facilities.
• 0.4 million households (2%) had no sanitation facilities.

Inequality in Water and Sanitation Access

• Inequalities arise from:
  • Rising unemployment.
  • The legacy of segregated services from the Apartheid era.
• Since the 1970s, large-scale rural-to-urban migration has reduced the rural population, leading to less revenue for WASH services.

Historical and Racial Disparities

• 1996 Census Data:
  • Black Africans made up 72% of the population.
  • Only 27% of Black Africans had indoor taps, compared to 96% of the white population.
• More recent surveys do not collect racial data, but the total number of households with indoor taps remains around 44%.

Provincial Disparities – Eastern Cape

• Eastern Cape is the poorest province in South Africa.
• 76% of households have an improved water source, the lowest in the country.
• The province has the highest proportion of households without sanitation facilities (6%), compared to other provinces.