Editing Water supply and sanitation in South Africa (section)

===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>