Editing Water supply and sanitation in South Africa (section)

===Transition===
In 1994, the first post-Apartheid government assigned the [[Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (South Africa)|Department of Water Affairs and Forestry]] the task of ensuring that all South Africans would have "equitable access to water supply and sanitation". To that end, the Community Water Supply and Sanitation Program was created to target key areas for instituting water and sanitation systems, and the National Sanitation Program was established to increase the rate of distribution of water and sanitation services.<ref name=":1" />

The passing of the [[Constitution of South Africa|Constitution of the Republic of South Africa]] in 1996 created a new, constitutional dispensation with a guaranteed Bill of Rights. Among those rights are the section 24(a) right to an environment that is not harmful to health or well-being, and the section 27(1)(b) right to sufficient water.<ref name=":1" />

The government also created new policies such as the Water Services Act, the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) of 1998, and the National Water Act (NWA) of 1998 in order to target water and sanitation problems.<ref name=":1" />