South Africa’s forgotten water crisis threatening people’s lives

Many of South Africa’s wastewater treatment facilities are in a critical state, with very few reaching a compliance score of over 31%. This poses a serious risk to South Africans’ health.

Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina recently revealed the poor state of South Africa’s Wastewater Treatment Work (WWTW) facilities in response to a parliamentary question from MK MP VG Reddy.

Reddy asked the minister how many municipal wastewater treatment facilities in each province were classified as non-functional and high risk due to persistent non-compliance with regulatory standards.

South Africa currently has over 950 WWTWs, many of which are managed by the country’s municipalities.

In 2022, the government’s Green Drop Report identified that 334 of these WWTWs were in a critical state based on a compliance score of less than 31%.

The 2025 Green Drop Report is currently being conducted and will be released by the end of the 2025/26 financial year.

In her response to Reddy’s question, Majodina outlined 44 WWTWs that were audited against the conditions of the authorisations issued in terms of the National Water Act. 

Of the 44 WWTWs the minister listed, 25 had a compliance score of 31% or under, with the highest score being 67% and the lowest being 0%.

South Africa’s struggling wastewater facilities play a significant role in the country’s water crisis, which has seen several areas across the country go without clean or running water for weeks and sometimes months on end.

PwC revealed in its South Africa Economic Outlook for February and March 2025 that, while South Africa is considered a water-scarce country, its water crisis is exacerbated by man-made problems.

“Water availability is further exacerbated by overconsumption, ageing infrastructure, inadequate maintenance, pollution and extreme weather,” the firm explained.

“However, natural supply and over-consumption are not the only constraints. The reliability of water distribution and treatment infrastructure is another substantial contributor to South Africa’s water supply risk.”

PwC specifically highlighted the risks the country’s struggling wastewater facilities pose to South Africans’ health.

“This carries increased risk to acute human health bacteria or pathogens in the drinking water supply,” the firm explained.

South Africans’ health at risk

South Africa’s Auditor-General (AG), Tsakani Maluleke, also recently warned of the dangers failing municipal WWTWs pose to the country’s citizens, specifically in larger metros.

“Weaknesses in infrastructure project delivery and ineffective preventative maintenance are as common in metros as in other municipalities, despite having better access to resources,” she said.

In the AG’s Integrated Annual Report for the 2023/24 fiscal year, she said most metros did not adequately assess the condition of roads and infrastructure for solid waste and wastewater, and some did not have maintenance plans.

For example, she said five metros did not comply with environmental management legislation, including not having valid operating licences for their wastewater treatment works and landfill sites, and not maintaining or safeguarding their wastewater treatment works. 

The deterioration of South Africa’s WTWWs can be seen in the results of the Green Drop reports.

The Green Drop programme is a comprehensive auditing and reporting system designed to improve the performance of South Africa’s wastewater treatment plants.

In the 2022 report, 334 wastewater treatment works out of a total of 955 systems were classified as critical, up from 248 in the 2013 report.

In addition, only 22 municipal and one private wastewater treatment works achieved Green Drop status in the 2022 report. 

The risk classification of municipal treatment works deteriorated from medium (65.4%) to high risk (70.1%) between 2013 and 2021.

Researchers from the University of Cape Town, Kevin Winter and Kirsty Carden, warned in 2022 of the “dire” implications of poor quality effluent being discharged into the environment.

“The more polluted the water sources are, the more expensive and difficult it is to treat the water for drinking (and other) purposes,” they explained. 

“Even more importantly, though, are the potential public health impacts. A stark example of this was deadly sewage contamination in a small rural town called Bloemhof in 2014. At least 18 babies died and over 200 people were hospitalised.”

At the time, Winter and Carden estimated that around R8 billion would be required to achieve compliance in the short term.