Water Wheel Sept/Oct 2023: Water Services

Abstract

The confidence of urban South Africans in their drinking water has declined over the past several years, according to the Water Services Barometer Study 2022, a Water Research Commission (WRC) funded study undertaken in partnership with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA). Only 79% of people in Metros and other urban areas believe their tap water is safe or very safe to drink, compared to 88% in 2015, and this is reflected in their drinking water behaviour. Only 50% of urban consumers now drink tap water without boiling, filtering or cleaning it first, down from 70% in 2015, and the percentage who only drink bottled water has doubled to 8% – although the latter is largely related to people’s standard of living. Rural consumers are far less confident in their water supply, with only 64% believing their tap water is safe or very safe to drink, and 12% responding that they get water from a well or river rather than a tap. No deductions can be made about changes over time because the 2022 study was the first in the series to include rural consumers.

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