The potential influence of Sustainable Development Goal 6.1 in the South African legislative context

Abstract

Water is at the very core of sustainable development, as it is critical for a thriving people and planet. However, limited water access has for long plagued many parts of the world, South Africa included. In recent years, there have been increasingly urgent warnings of a global water crisis because humanity consistently uses more safe water than is sustainably available. From an international perspective, the most recent development dealing with water access, conservation and management is Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), which forms part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. SDG 6 covers the entire water cycle, including the management of water, wastewater and ecosystem resources, and places water at the centre of sustainable development. This critical goal can be achieved if it is properly pursued in national settings. Thus, this article focuses on the domestic implementation of SDG 6.1 against the backdrop of current South African legislation dealing with water access and management. The aim of the article is to analyse SDG 6.1 and determine if and how it can be incorporated into South African water legislation in order to give effect to it and grant it legal legitimacy in the domestic context.