Editing Water supply and sanitation in South Africa (section)

==Access to water by SA citizens==
[[File:Johhanesburg Water-Midrand Tower-002.jpg|thumb|200px|A water tower in [[Midrand]], Johannesburg]] 
South Africa is one of the few countries in the world that enshrines the basic right to sufficient water in its [[Constitution of South Africa|Constitution]], stating that "Everyone has the right to have access to [...] sufficient food and water."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/1996/96cons2.htm#27 |title=Constitution of 1996, Chapter 2, Section 27 |access-date=21 May 2007 |archive-date=17 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131117002512/http://www.info.gov.za/documents/constitution/1996/96cons2.htm#27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, much remains to be done to fulfill that right.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Note|title=What Price for the Priceless?: Implementing the Justiciability of the Right to Water|journal=[[Harvard Law Review]]|date=2007|volume=120|page=1067|url=https://harvardlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/note.pdf|access-date=25 October 2017}}</ref>

After the end of [[Apartheid]] South Africa's newly elected government inherited highly functional services  with respect to access to water supply and sanitation.<ref>BUSARI, Ola and JACKSON, Barry: Reinforcing water and sanitation sector reform in South Africa, Water Policy, 2006, vol. 8, no 4, pp. 303–312.</ref>

However, as of 2017, owing to a lack of maintenance resulting from corruption,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-03|title=Controlling Corruption to Improve Water Security: Lessons from the South African Water Sector|url=https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2020/06/03/controlling-corruption-lessons-from-southafrican-watersector/|access-date=2021-07-24|website=Georgetown Journal of International Affairs|language=en-US}}</ref> provision of water and sanitation has largely collapsed.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-05-22|title="Better water supply, collection management systems needed to avoid day zero water crisis"|url=https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/better-water-supply-collection-management-systems-needed-to-avoid-day-zero-water-crisis/|access-date=2021-07-24|website=SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader.|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Adam|first=Ferrial|date=2021-04-29|title=MAVERICK CITIZEN OP-ED: Government must urgently deal with South Africa's deepening water crisis|url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-04-29-government-must-urgently-deal-with-south-africas-deepening-water-crisis/|access-date=2021-07-24|website=Daily Maverick|language=en}}</ref> In 2015, the Department of Water and Sanitation said it would require R293-billion to fix and upgrade all water and sewage infrastructure in the country.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-07-21|title=50 000 litres of sewage flow into SA's rivers every second|url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-07-21-south-africas-shit-has-hit-the-fan/|access-date=2021-07-24|website=The Mail & Guardian|language=en-ZA}}</ref>

While there has been a growth in the overall number of water-supplied dwellings, the percentage of houses with running water has decreased since 1994.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-01-30|title=Water services worse than in 1994|url=https://mg.co.za/environment/2020-01-31-water-services-worse-than-in-1994/|access-date=2022-12-04|website=The Mail & Guardian|language=en-ZA}}</ref>

===Water===
In 2015, the total number of people in South Africa lacking access to an [[Improved water source|"improved" water supply]] was 3.64 million.<ref name="SAJMPWash">{{Cite web|url=https://washwatch.org/en/countries/south-africa/summary/statistics/|title=WASHwatch.org – South Africa|website=washwatch.org|language=en|access-date=2017-03-27}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">WHO/UNICEF (2015) [https://www.wssinfo.org/documents/ Progress on sanitation and drinking water – 2015 update and MDG assessment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418142528/http://www.wssinfo.org/documents/ |date=18 April 2014 }}, Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation</ref> 93% of the population had access to an improved water source in that year.<ref name="SAJMPWash" />

In his State of the Union address in May 2004 President [[Thabo Mbeki]] had promised "all households will have running water within five years".<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3736045.stm Mbeki State of the Union 2004]</ref> Despite substantial progress, this goal was not fully achieved. In some rural areas, women spend up to one-third of their time fetching water from streams and wells.<ref>Itana, Nicole:[http://www.womensenews.org/story/international-policyunited-nations/020906/many-women-clean-water-means-safety-freedom For Many Women, Clean Water Means Safety, Freedom]. WEnews 6 September 2002. Retrieved 16 March 2010.</ref> They are also responsible for using it to cook meals, wash laundry and bathe children.

===Sanitation===
With respect to [[sanitation]], progress has been slower. The total number of people in South Africa lacking access to [[Improved sanitation|"improved" sanitation]] was 18 million in 2015.<ref name="SAJMPWash" /><ref name="ReferenceA"/> This means that only 66% of the total population had access to improved sanitation in that year.<ref name="SAJMPWash" />

According to estimates by the WHO/UNICEF global [[Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation]] based on survey and census data, the share of South Africans with access to [[improved sanitation]] increased slowly from 71% in 1990 to 75% in 2000 and 79% in 2010. In 2010, an estimated 11 million South Africans still did not have access to improved sanitation: They and used shared facilities (4 million), [[bucket toilet]]s (3 million) or practiced [[open defecation]] (4 million).<ref name="JMP" />

According to [[Statistics South Africa]], access is higher, partially because it includes shared facilities in its definition of sanitation. According to the 2011 census figures, access to sanitation increased from 83% in 2001 to 91% in 2011, including shared and individual pit latrines as well as chemical toilets.<ref name="Census 2011">{{cite web|last=[[Statistics South Africa]]|title=Census 2011: Statistical Release|url=http://www.statssa.gov.za/Publications/P03014/P030142011.pdf|access-date=3 November 2012|pages=52–53|date=October 2012}}</ref> The share of households with access to flush toilets increased from 53% in 2001 to 60% in 2011. The health impacts of inadequate sanitation can be serious, as evidenced by the estimated 1.5 million cases of [[diarrhoea]] in children under five and the 2001 outbreak of [[cholera]].<ref>[http://www.dwaf.gov.za/dir_ws/content/lids/PDF/summary.pdf 2001 basic household sanitation White Paper]</ref> While most coliforms are harmless to human health, the presence of E. coli, which covers approximately 97% of coliform bacteria found in the intestines of animals and in faeces, underlines the presence of more harmful pathogens in the water system (DWAF 1996b).<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Teklehaimanot|first1=Giorgis Z.|last2=Coetzee|first2=Martie A. A.|last3=Momba|first3=Maggy N. B.|date=2014-05-17|title=Faecal pollution loads in the wastewater effluents and receiving water bodies: a potential threat to the health of Sedibeng and Soshanguve communities, South Africa|journal=Environmental Science and Pollution Research|language=en|volume=21|issue=16|pages=9589–9603|doi=10.1007/s11356-014-2980-y|pmid=24838129|bibcode=2014ESPR...21.9589T |s2cid=26827412|issn=0944-1344}}</ref>

South Africa's sewage system has largely collapsed. Globally, on average, annual maintenance to plants amounts to 15% of the plant's value but in South Africa only 1% of the plant's value is spent on annual maintenance. Of 824 water treatment plants, only around 60 release clean water. Every second, 50 000 litres of untreated sewage flows into rivers throughout the country.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-07-21|title=50 000 litres of sewage flow into SA's rivers every second|url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-07-21-south-africas-shit-has-hit-the-fan/|access-date=2021-07-24|website=The Mail & Guardian|language=en-ZA}}</ref>