Both are dry countries but Australia has adopted a flexible approach to accommodate local conditions while South Africa has adopted a cookie-cutter model applied nationwide
The City of Cape Town has installed meters that limit the amount of water people use but it is hurting the poor, who use far less water than the wealthy
The water and sanitation minister said the metro needed to build resilience into its water supply system given the flood risks
South Africa has had a mixed bag of environmental ministers over the past 30 years and, bar a few, most have taken the environmental agenda forward
The blame game will only take us so far down the river
One resident said that if he could speak to the government, he would ‘plead’ for a safe house
Our water use is higher than the global average – and we need to fix infrastructure to reduce losses
The country’s population now exceeds 62 million people, who are mostly living in formal housing with access to utilities
Helen Joseph Hospital and Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital is surviving on water tankers amidst Gauteng water crisis
The eThekwini Municipality says projects are underway to build proper water infrastructure
Landowners and businesses in the Unesco World Heritage Site are up in arms over municipal sewage pollution
A lack of necessary skills has also contributed to the metro’s water and sanitation crisis
Kinshasa is buffeted by torrential rains for eight months of the year, but for many in this rapidly growing megacity, running water that is safe to drink is a rarity
Few benefits will flow to the people on whose land the Polihali Dam is being built
Cholera outbreak has been a ‘big lesson’ for the government, penitent president says, while promising to fix the problems
Experts say cholera is unlikely to end up in tap water. But for how long will it be germ-free, with half of SA’s water treatment plants struggling due to load-shedding?
The Department of Water and Sanitation’s Blue and Green Drop Reports show that microbiological and chemical compliance are lacking in our drinking water
Now is the time for accountability. Our leaders must deal with the consequences of their failures.
In 2015, the M&G ran a series of articles about the critical state of water and sanitation. Things have only got worse in the years since then
Cholera was largely eliminated from industrialised countries more than a century ago, but there are still a significant number of cases each year in Africa
Is the situation in Hammanskraal a sign of what is to come?
Financing water is generally a low priority in most African countries, amounting to about $10-$19 billion/year
Google Earth shows sewage filling the area from the cemetery to the township of Asiganang, and flowing to the Harts River
Residents complain they have not had a reliable source of water for three years and have to spend hundreds of rand purchasing it
A report by an international high-level panel notes that a water shortage or contaminated water results in sub-Saharan Africa losing 5% of its GDP each year
The government is in talks with Eskom to keep water pumps going during blackouts, the president told MPs
There is a critical need to enhance and improve the governance of water resources and land
The taps in the village of Mnyamaneni near Matatiele have never had water flow from them
With La Niña bringing much-needed rain, it is inexcusable that South Africans do not have access to their most basic human need: water
Environmental waste, especially pharmaceuticals and toxins, needs high-level action to stop its major contribution to antimicrobial resistance
But the municipality has laid the blame for the filthy state of Tembisa at the feet of the community
There are a myriad causes – human and natural – for the crisis plaguing the country