After the end of Apartheid South Africa's newly elected government struggled with the then growing service and backlogs with respect to access to water supply and sanitation developed.

On 13 February 2018, the country declared a national disaster in Cape Town as the city's water supply was predicted to run dry before the end of June.

According to UN-endorsed projections, Cape Town is one of eleven major world cities that are expected to run out of water.

Cape Town has 26 treatment plants, some of which are ineffective and date back to the 1950s, making clean water access and wastewater management major difficulties.

The town George faced water shortages and had decided on an IPR strategy (2009/2010), where final effluents from its Outeniqua WWTP are treated to a very high quality through UF and disinfection prior to being returned to the main storage facility, the Garden Route Dam, where they are combined with current raw water supplies.

The treatment processes applied include UF pre-treatment, RO desalination, as well as advanced oxidation and carbon filtration.

[22] After the end of Apartheid South Africa's newly elected government inherited highly functional services with respect to access to water supply and sanitation.

[4] 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.

[37] The system is regarded internationally as unique in the drinking water regulatory domain and has been well received by the World Health Organization.

However, observers from the private sector say that a "strong spin element" surrounds the programme and that water quality is actually deteriorating nationally, "while the government attempts to discredit commentators who persist in their view that there is a problem".

Eutrophication is a growing concern,[41] with about one third of the total volume of water held in strategic storage approaching the point where it is no longer fit for purpose without significant and costly management intervention.

As a consequence, the responsibility for rural water supply and sanitation has been transferred from the national government, represented by DWAF, to municipalities.

The Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) is a state-owned entity with the mission to finance and implement bulk raw water infrastructure.

TCTA uses these revenues mainly to repay the debt it has raised to finance its infrastructure, its operating costs and to pay royalties to the government of Lesotho.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is an important player in the water and sanitation sector, both as a financier and as an advisor and project promoter.

South Africa has a vibrant civil society, comprising a large number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) with very diverse goals, membership and methods.

[57] One reason is the official policy of cadre deployment, whereby persons loyal to the ruling party, the African National Congress, are given jobs in different branches of government.

This intransparent process puts party loyalty ahead of competence and demoralises public service employees, according to a 2012 study by the Human Sciences Research Council.

According to the study, there is also a high level of turnover of middle and senior managers in the civil service, due to stressful working conditions and opportunities for qualified professionals in the private sector.

[49] The Act calls for higher cost recovery, which proved a challenge due to widespread poverty and a culture of non-payment for water in many Townships, as a remnant of protests against Apartheid.

The funding for improvements to water and sanitation systems would come from the national government via the Municipal Infrastructure Grant MIG or Equitable Shares, or via local revenue collection.

[63] After Thabo Mbeki became President of South Africa in 1999 and a cholera outbreak occurred in 2000, the African National Congress promised free basic water during a municipal election campaign in December 2000.

Building on earlier experiences with private sector participation since 1994, a five-year management contract for water services in Johannesburg, South Africa's largest city and the country's economic and financial hub, was awarded in 2000 to the Joint Venture Water and Sanitation Services South Africa (WSSA).

Residents of Phiri, a neighborhood in Soweto, sued against prepaid meters with the support of South African and international anti-privatisation activists in what has been called the Mazibuko case, named after the first plaintiff.

[72] South Africa has formed partnerships and engaged in discussions with several nations, including Denmark,[73] the Netherlands,[74] and Israel,[75] to enhance its water supply and sanitation infrastructure.

[81] South Africa has introduced a policy of free basic services, including water, electricity and solid waste collection.

This is one of the reasons why in 2009 the government announced it would review its implementation strategy for free basic water, possibly through registers of poor users.

They used less than amount of free basic water – 9 cubic meters per month in the case of Durban – for the simple reason that there were two or less residents in the household.

Wealthier municipalities partially finance free basic water through cross-subsidies from non-residential users and local tax revenue.