Question NW4123 to the Minister of Water and Sanitation

Reply:

The Department of Water and Sanitation does monitor the loss of water through leakages as reflected in the current No Drop 2023 report, released 5 December 2023.

The latest national water balance indicates a total System Input Volume (SIV) of 4 282.5 million m³/a. The National Non-Revenue Water is estimated at 1 988.5 million m³/a (46.4%) and the water losses is 1 744.7 million m³/a (40.7%). KwaZulu Natal has the highest NRW at 60.5% with Western Cape having the lowest at 27.6%. The national water use per capita is currently 218 ℓ/c/d, which is significantly above the international benchmark of 180 l/c/d. Gauteng has the highest per capita usage at 279 ℓ/c/d followed by Limpopo (197 l/c/d), then Free State (196 l/c/d), with the rest of the provinces at around 180 ℓ/c/d. Western Cape has the lowest water use at 164 l/c/d. The 2023 No Drop Report reflects that NRW has increased from 37% in 2014 to 47%, and water losses have increased from 28% in 2014 to 38%.

Initiatives and strategies being implemented by the DWS to address the specified challenges to ensure a more sustainable and efficient water provision system include the following:

• The Department is continuously monitoring and analysing the progress made with the implementation of Water Conservation and Water Demand Management and targets set during the updating of Reconciliation Strategies at Water Services Authority level, within the eight large water supply systems. All the relevant stakeholders meet twice a year to report progress on the implementation of various strategies which will ensure the sustainability of water resources.

• DWS Minister and Deputy Ministers spend most of their time crisscrossing the country visiting those municipalities with severe challenges with water and sanitation services, including water losses and non-revenue water. DWS and Water Boards are supporting many of the municipalities to implement improvement plans agreed to by Ministry and municipal leadership. DWS works with COGTA, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency, the Department of Human Settlements, and National Treasury to provide support to the worst performing municipalities, including:
• Allocating infrastructure grants worth more than R20 billion per annum to municipalities
• Technical and engineering support and assistance
• Capacity building and training
• Financial management advice and support

• Despite all the support being provided to municipalities, water losses and non-revenue water continue to increase. Fundamental reform is required to arrest and turn around the decline in municipal water and sanitation services. In this regard, DWS has recently gazetted the Water Services Amendment Bill for public comment. The Bill introduces a compulsory operating license system for WSPs, to be managed by DWS as the national regulator, which will enable water services authorities to ensure that water services providers have minimum competency, capability, and performance levels.

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