SA’s water crisis deepens as audit reveals municipalities are losing more water than they use
· Citizen
Parliament’s oversight committee has sounded the alarm after the auditor-general found that over half of treated water is lost before it reaches taps.
Meanwhile, municipalities continue to underspend on maintenance and rely on emergency water tankers as a permanent solution.
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Crumbling infrastructure is driving a water quality collapse
South Africa’s water sector is in a deepening crisis, with municipalities failing to meet minimum maintenance standards and water quality deteriorating across the country, Parliament’s portfolio committee on cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) warned on Tuesday.
The committee received a briefing from the office of the auditor-general (AG) on its audit of the water sector which exposed critical weaknesses in infrastructure maintenance.
Municipalities were found to be spending far below required benchmarks, leaving water treatment systems failing at scale and water losses at dangerously high levels.
Committee chairperson Zweli Mkhize said the findings were deeply troubling.
“This has a direct impact on the health of communities,” he said, warning that deteriorating water treatment systems in urban areas were increasing the risk of disease outbreaks, including cholera, pollution-related illness and dysentery.
Mkhize emphasised that the problem extended beyond infrastructure.
“Literally, of the water that has been treated, we lose more than we actually use and that is a matter of serious concern,” he said.
He described the situation as reflecting deep systemic inefficiencies across the water value chain.
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More than half of treated water is disappearing into the system
Among the most alarming findings presented to the committee was the scale of water losses.
According to statistics from the AG, approximately 56% of treated water is lost before it reaches end users.
This means South Africa is losing the majority of the water it processes.
The committee noted that this level of loss points to entrenched systemic failures rather than isolated incidents.
The AG’s report issued a clear call to action, calling for stronger oversight, better coordination across all spheres of government, increased investment in maintenance and stronger consequence management.
Mkhize cautioned that without decisive intervention, the situation would worsen.
The committee noted that the current trajectory would continue to undermine reliable access to safe water, placing increasing pressure on communities and the broader economy.
Water tankers meant for emergencies are becoming permanent fixtures
The committee also raised serious concern about the growing dependence on water tankers as a substitute for functioning water infrastructure.
Expenditure on water tankers has reached an estimated R2.3 billion.
The committee flagged the figure as evidence that a short-term emergency measure has become a long-term crutch.
Some committee members raised allegations that water systems were being deliberately tampered with in order to manufacture demand for tankers.
The committee noted that these allegations warranted focused attention and further investigation.
Mkhize identified three critical areas that would anchor the committee’s oversight going forward: poor accountability, inadequate institutional capacity and the ongoing failure to maintain water infrastructure.
He described these as “the underlying drivers of the failures observed across the water value chain”.
Parliament plans targeted engagements with struggling municipalities
In response to the AG’s findings, the committee indicated that its oversight work would extend to direct engagements with the department of water and sanitation and specific municipalities experiencing the most acute challenges.
However, Mkhize noted that targeted preparatory work needed to happen before those meetings could be productive.
“We need to do a bit more work before we can have such a meeting, so that we can focus on specific municipalities and avoid having a discussion that is all over the show,” he said.
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