Water scarcity is not only about pipes and taps, it also shapes how people cook, eat, work and survive in cities.

Water scarcity in cities is not simply a question of whether pipes, taps and reservoirs exist. It is also about who can access them, when water flows, who carries the burden of securing it and the social networks and improvisations that keep urban life going when formal infrastructure fails.

This was one of the central messages to emerge from the Food Indaba 2026 webinar Water Scarcity in Global South Cities, held on July 20, as part of this year's programme themed around water and food systems.

Hosted by Gareth Haysom of the African Centre for Cities, the webinar brought together insights from Bengaluru (India), Mossel Bay, Tamale (Ghana) and Cape Town - four secondary cities in the Global South, where rapid urbanisation is pressurising already-strained infrastructure.

Water access is not the same as water security

In Bengaluru, Vrashali Khandelwal of the Indian Institute for Human Settlements presented research from a densely populated ward where around 80% of households have access to treated tap water, more than the city-wide average of 70%.

The reality on the ground is far more complex, however.

According to Khandelwal, residents rely on a patchwork of systems: the city water grid, boreholes, water ATMs, tankers...