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Tap water in most of South Africa's big cities is still rated as "safe" to drink - albeit declining - but the same cannot be said for municipal water supplies in large parts of the country.
Three separate government audit reports have shown how the country's water is being fouled by sewage and other effluents, wasted through pipe leakages or non-payment and, in several areas, not treated to safe drinking standards.
This comes after the water quality at a number
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According to its own data, the City of Cape Town has been pumping more sewage into the ocean at Hout Bay than is allowed. This contravenes the discharge permit granted by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
Opposition party ActionSA laid a criminal charge for violation of the Integrated Coastal Management Act after data and documents obtained by ActionSA show that the City pumped more than the maximum allowed volume.On six of the days measured, the
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A new UNICEF report has revealed that 1 in 3 children, or 739 million globally, currently live in areas with high or very high water scarcity, a situation exacerbated by climate change.
The report, titled "The Climate Changed Child,"
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Johannesburg is cutting off water and electricity in poor areas and nursing homes, and enforcing outstanding payments at roadblocks while government departments owe hundreds of millions in unpaid water bills.
This comes after the South African Department of Water and Sanitation's Hydrological Unit released their weekly figures on the status of reservoirs in the midst of soaring temperatures in most parts of
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The Executive Director of Africa Youth Growth Foundation (AYGR), Dr Arome Salifu, has said that 1.4 million Nigerians are killed by diseases traceable to inadequate handwash facilities. Salifu made this announcement during an event at Government Day Secondary School in Bwari, Abuja, in honour of Global Handwashing Day.
Salifu explained that the aim of the event was to engage students with interactive activities,
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More than 26,000 people have been forced to flee their homes owing to floods caused by the widespread leakage of Ghana's Akosombo dam on the Volta River. Due to a steady rise in water levels upstream of the dam, mostly brought on by excessive rains, the Volta River Authority, started controlled spilling of the Akosombo and Kpong dams on September 15, 2023. The rising waters saw the controlled splling increase, sadly
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Water is a basic human need and a fundamental resource essential to our existence. Challenges brought about by its scarcity remind us how it sustains our world. Lacking access to clean, reliable water sources, communities face challenges.
The absence of water amplifies disparities within societies making the addressing of water scarcity
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President William Ruto says Kibera slums will not exist in the next decade because of the affordable housing project that is currently being rolled out.
Ruto said the huge number of Kenyans still living in slums should be a huge concern to the country, calling on those opposed to the housing project to appreciate its long-term objectives.
Currently, more than 6.5 million Kenyans live in slums spread
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The SA Human Rights Commission fears that a water supply "disaster" is looming in several parts of KwaZulu-Natal unless municipalities are forced to fix and maintain their dilapidated pipelines, pumps and other crucial water supply infrastructure, Daily Maverick reports.
The commission's warning serves as a further wake-up call to municipalities and water utilities over the crumbling state of water supply and reticulation in several parts of the country due to
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Frequent sewage blockages have resulted in residents of Siyanda B near KwaMashu, Durban taking action and demanding that the eThekwini Municipality find a permanent solution to the problem. For over six years residents have had to deal with the overflowing sewage in their community with complaints to authorities falling on deaf ears.
The township's state is the latest example of poor sewerage infrastructure
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