Securing South Africa’s water future: Why infrastructure alone is not enough
Jacques Schmidt, Deputy Sector Lead: Water and Sustainable Water Management, WSP in Africa
South Africa’s next water challenge is not simply to build more supply. It is to extract greater value from every
source, every asset, and every Rand invested.
Over the past three decades, household access to basic water services has risen from 55% in 1994 to around 90% today. Yet reliability has deteriorated. For many communities, having a tap no longer guarantees safe, consistent water. At the same time, demand from cities, industry, agriculture, and a growing population continues to strain one of the world’s most water-scarce countries.
The question is shifting: not just
“Where will the next source come from?” but “How do we build a diversified, reliable, financially sustainable, and resilient water system?”
Diversifying the portfolio
Large-scale dams and transfer schemes remain essential, but South Africa has already harnessed about 75% of its sustainably utilisable surface water. The remaining schemes are more complex, more expensive, and often further from centres of demand. Future security therefore requires a diversified portfolio; one that includes groundwater, potable and non-potable reuse, desalination, and mine-affected water.
Each source has different costs, energy requirements, and climate vulnerabilities. No single option can deliver resilience on its own. Together, however, they can create an integrated network system that is more robust than reliance on conventional surface water alone. Water security is now as much a portfolio-management challenge as an infrastructure-development one.
The cheapest new source is the water we save
Diversifying supply addresses only half the equation. South Africa consumes about 218 litres per person per day, compared with a global average of 173. This is compounded by non-revenue water losses that average 47% across municipalities; which is nearly half of treated water lost through leaks, metering failures, or unbilled supply.
This creates both a resource problem and a financial one. Before investing in expensive new sources, there is
a compelling case for extracting greater value from the water already in the system. Reducing leakage, strengthening metering and billing, replacing failing assets, and managing demand can unlock capacity at far lower cost than new supply.
The principle is simple:
every litre saved is a litre that does not need to be abstracted, treated, pumped, or financed elsewhere. For municipalities facing both scarcity and financial pressure, conservation and demand management should be viewed as infrastructure investments
in their own right.
Reliability matters more than access
Access has expanded, but reliability has declined. Of 144 Water Services Authorities, 107 perform poorly or critically in drinking-water and wastewater systems. Microbiological water quality has deteriorated, and much municipal wastewater infrastructure is in poor condition.
This is not a lack of engineering knowledge. It reflects challenges in asset management, operations, and accountability.
Building new infrastructure while existing systems deteriorate risks creating an unsustainable cycle: new capacity is added faster than municipalities can operate, maintain, and finance the assets already under their control.
Securing sustainable supply therefore must include securing the performance of the infrastructure we already
have.
Reforming utilities
In many municipalities, responsibility for water is fragmented. Technical teams operate plants, but revenue collection,
procurement, and financial decisions sit elsewhere. Revenue often flows into general municipal budgets, leaving water functions underfunded.
A functioning utility needs visibility of costs, control of assets, credible revenue collection, and clear accountability. Ring-fencing revenues and strengthening single-point accountability may prove as important as new infrastructure. Without these reforms, even the best-designed projects risk underperformance.
Institutions unlock investment
The creation of the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) is a step toward stronger financing
capacity. Municipal reforms are also clarifying responsibilities and strengthening capability requirements. Government is increasingly looking to blended finance — combining public funding, development finance, and private capital — to expand the pool of money
available for infrastructure.
But private capital will only flow to credible institutions. Investors need enforceable contracts, competent
operators, sustainable revenue streams, and confidence that assets will be maintained. Bankable infrastructure requires bankable institutions. Institutional reform and infrastructure investment must therefore progress together.
From projects to systems
A dam cannot compensate for a distribution network losing half its treated water. A desalination plant cannot
secure supply if municipalities cannot recover costs. Expanding access means little if households cannot depend on water being available.
Future investment must move beyond isolated projects to whole-system performance; integrating source diversification, bulk infrastructure, asset condition, demand management, and financial sustainability. The most valuable intervention may not always be the largest capital project. Sometimes it will be a new dam or transfer scheme. Elsewhere it may be a reuse plant, a groundwater programme, or simply fixing leaks and restoring existing infrastructure.
Redefining water security
South Africa has proven it can deliver large, complex infrastructure. The challenge now is broader. Water security
should be measured not by infrastructure built, but by reliability, quality, resilience, and financial sustainability. The country cannot build its way out of scarcity, nor conserve its way out of growth. It needs both, supported by stronger institutions,
better asset management, diversified supply, and integrated system planning.
Only by moving from individual projects to resilient national systems can South Africa secure water through droughts,
climate uncertainty, and rising economic demand. That is ultimately what securing a sustainable water future will require.
WSP in Africa is hiring! To find out more about available opportunities, check out the
Careers page on our website or look out for updates on our LinkedIn page,
@WSPinAfrica.
