South African Water Sector Research Articles

Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the South African water sector

An analysis of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the South African water sector is presented. The study identified and focused on three main themes: water revenue collection, water service delivery, and water sector operations. The Covid-19 pandemic negatively impacted these aspects and exacerbated pre-existing problems in the water provision landscape of South Africa. Business continuity management was identified as a top priority for water sector institutions in South Africa to ensure the continued provision of critical water services. In-depth case study research is recommended to establish how water sector institutions in South Africa dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic and how this can inform their disaster preparedness and management going forward.

The Identification of Cybersecurity Work Roles for the Water Sector in South Africa

This paper presents the results of a content analysis conducted on the work roles of cybersecurity practitioners for the water sector of South Africa. The paper presents literature review findings on national and international frameworks and guidelines detailing cyber security considerations for the South African water sector as well as national and international guidelines and frameworks which detail the various work roles carried out by cybersecurity practitioners in an organisation. The study found that cyber security considerations and work roles such as physical security of assets, testing and assessment of cybersecurity methods, supply chains cyber security as well as incident investigation and interfacing with law enforcement, were not well defined for cyber security discipline. The study delivers a framework detailing the work roles of cybersecurity practitioners which can be applied to the South African water sector.

Water innovation in South Africa: Mapping innovation successes and diffusion constraints

Because of its long experience with water scarcity, South Africa has built a highly active research and innovation capacity in the water sector, which is spearheaded by the Water Research Commission (WRC). As a result, South African scientists have been among the significant contributors to new knowledge creation in the water innovation domain, especially in water treatment technologies. This innovation dynamism has however not been translated into a large-scale harnessing of technological innovations to avert the looming threat of water shortage. This paper combines innovation diffusion theory with the technology maturation framework to explore the main factors that help explain the pace of innovation diffusion in the South African water sector. Data from key informant interview analysis as well as available secondary sources indicate that financing constraints and technical validation difficulties are among the main hurdles limiting the ability of innovators to scale up their inventions for commercialisation. Adoption costs and lack of municipal support budget are the most important factors that limit the ability of low income rural households to adopt water innovations. Policy measures to support diffusion strategies are necessary to ensure that innovators have the means to overcome the multiple diffusion obstacles that they are confronted with.

Failed intentions? Meeting the water needs of people living with HIV in South Africa

Researchers, activists, practitioners and policy-makers have grappled with the challenge of providing people living with HIV (PLHIV) with an adequate amount of safe water. Comprising 13% of the overall population of South Africa in 2018, 7.52 million PLHIV need water for drinking and taking medication; preparing food; and personal hygiene and cleaning to minimise infections. This article examines the responses of the different stakeholders to this challenge and their impact on the water and health policy process. It finds that activists were able to emphasise the dimensions of the challenge; practitioners worked to implement provision more effectively within existing policy frameworks; and a range of stakeholders made a thoughtful and promising policy proposal for direct action, which the Department of Water and Sanitation ultimately failed to embrace. This article is based on an extensive review of academic research and publications by development agencies on HIV and water as well as engagement with policies and documents in the South African water sector related to water services delivery for PLHIV. While the widespread provision of antiretrovirals from 2004 has changed the context, the above findings are significant in understanding and reviewing the impact of various stakeholders on the water and health policy process. They raise questions regarding the effectiveness of NGO advocacy, the means of delivering improved services to specific populations, and the ability of a range of stakeholders to inform the policy approaches of government departments.

Failed intentions? Meeting the water needs of people living with HIV in South Africa

Researchers, activists, practitioners and policy-makers have grappled with the challenge of providing people living with HIV (PLHIV) with an adequate amount of safe water. Comprising 13% of the overall population of South Africa in 2018, 7.52 million PLHIV need water for drinking and taking medication; preparing food; and personal hygiene and cleaning to minimise infections. This article examines the responses of the different stakeholders to this challenge and their impact on the water and health policy process. It finds that activists were able to emphasise the dimensions of the challenge; practitioners worked to implement provision more effectively within existing policy frameworks; and a range of stakeholders made a thoughtful and promising policy proposal for direct action, which the Department of Water and Sanitation ultimately failed to embrace. This article is based on an extensive review of academic research and publications by development agencies on HIV and water as well as engagement with policies and documents in the South African water sector related to water services delivery for PLHIV. While the widespread provision of antiretrovirals from 2004 has changed the context, the above findings are significant in understanding and reviewing the impact of various stakeholders on the water and health policy process. They raise questions regarding the effectiveness of NGO advocacy, the means of delivering improved services to specific populations, and the ability of a range of stakeholders to inform the policy approaches of government departments.

A civil society organisation response to water service delivery issues in South Africa drives transformative praxis. Part 1: Emergence and practice

South Africa has a progressive constitution and water legislation that align with and are in support of the country becoming a developmental state. Public participation in water governance processes is provided for in South African water law and is an integral component to achieving the National Water Act developmental principles of equity, sustainability and efficiency.Decentralisation of water service delivery to the local sphere of government has stretched the capacity of municipalities to the point of dysfunction. An opportunity subsequently emerged for civil society organisations (CSOs) to play an important collaborative role in transforming water service delivery to more socially and ecologically just situations. We argue that it is important to understand how CSOs emerge and practice in order to develop and support their role in the South African water sector. The research employed qualitative methods to explore the emergence and practice of a civil society organisation, Water for Dignity (WfD), in response to water service delivery challenges in the Makana Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Communities of practice theory was adopted as a theoretical and analytical lens to explore the stages of development of WfD and the enabling and constraining factors to their practice. Factors that enabled the emergence and practice of WfD included: skilled support from stakeholders of distributed expertise and highly motivated core WfD members. Constraining factors included: poor internal leadership, socio-economic constraints and command and control by powerful stakeholders. The principles distilled in this paper can inform the emergence and function of similar civil society organisations in other local government contexts and forward the developmental goals of South Africa.

Building capacity for co-operative governance as a basis for integrated water resource managing in the Inkomati and Mvoti catchments, South Africa

South Africa's National Water Act and National Water Resource Strategy set out an ambitious vision for Integrated Water Resources Management including a strong focus on the redistribution of water resources towards the poor and on empowering historically disadvantaged communities. To achieve this vision the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry (DWAF) has been pursuing a programme for devolving powers to 19 stakeholder-led catchment management agencies (CMAs) and more locally, transforming irrigation boards into more inclusive water user associations (WUAs), as well as creating new associations. Co-operative governance is a core principle of this programme. As well as being enshrined in South Africa's constitution, this principle is seen as key to enabling CMAs to implement their core functions, which include co-ordinating the activities of water users and water management institutions within their water management area. For WUAs also, the principle of co-operative governance is key to building engagement between White commercial farmers and emerging Black farmers, as well as (in some cases) engaging with a wider set of stakeholder interests including local government and environmental interests. Despite a commitment to the principle of co-operative governance, individual and institutional capacity for facilitating co-operative development processes is in relatively short supply within the South African water sector. This paper describes work-in-progress to build capacity in this area, working with: •� DWAF'snationalInstitutionalGovernanceteam •� TheInkomatiCMA�(ICMA),�thefirstofSouthAfrica'snewcatchmentmanagementagencies •� Two��irrigationboardsandanumberofotherstakeholdersintheMvoticatchment�-�withaviewtothedevelopmentofan� appropriate institutional arrangement (WUA or otherwise) for the co-operative governance of this catchment. This paper focuses on the development of an interactive approach to capacity building in each of these three sites, drawing from a broad portfolio of approaches variously described as social learning, social appraisal, or whole system development. In the Inkomati we have worked primarily with the whole system approach known as Future Search, whereas in the Mvoti we have used the U-process and social appraisal as guiding metaphors and design principles. � Thispaperdescribessomeofourachievements,�challengesandreflectionstodate,�andarguesthattheinteractive� approaches we have been taking are better suited to the implementation of DWAF's institutional reform processes than the more established, top-down approaches, which involve issuing guidance, supported by training programmes. The paper con- cludes with a discussion of the implications for scaling up these types of approaches across the South African water system as a whole, and for the practice of integrated water resource management.

Applying the water-energy-food nexus to farm profitability in the Middle Breede Catchment, South Africa

The water-energy-food nexus has emerged as a useful concept to understand the multiple interdependencies that exist between the water, energy and food sectors. The nexus is an ambitious attempt to work across disciplines and scales to understand the workings of these complex systems. It is, however, criticised for being more of a general framework than a practical methodology because of the vast amount of data it would need to make real-life contributions to sustainable development. We show how the nexus approach, when used within a farm budget model, can transform the problem focus in water governance. By changing the relationship among water, energy and food production of a farm, profitability is significantly changed. The water-energy-food nexus debate is discussed within the context of the South African water sector, particularly the Breede River Catchment. Working from within the farm budget model, we demonstrate the impact of moving from an irrigation canal system that requires electricity for pumping, to a gravity-fed piped irrigation system in the Middle Breede River. The finding is that the water-energy-food nexus has the potential to unlock groundbreaking solutions to complex problems in agricultural water management when used in appropriate modelling systems.Significance:
 
 The water-energy-food nexus approach can lead to an entirely new framing of water governance problems and therefore solutions to these problems.
 The water-energy-food nexus when used in farm budget models can identify ways of altering farm profitability.
 By addressing the energy cost of farming through an irrigation pipeline system in parts of the Breede Catchment Area, farm profitability could significantly increase.
 A gravity-fed closed pipeline system in parts of the Breede River can improve water availability and reduce farm and management costs.

Water Supply to Big Cities: Training and Development Initiatives Implemented by South Africa’s Largest Water Board: A Focus on the City of Johannesburg (Gauteng province, South Africa)

People living in big cities around the world are supplied with potable water through sporadic water supply networks. In South Africa, water is generally supplied uninterruptedly. However, the efficacy of water supply to big cities such as the city of Johannesburg (CoJ) may be destructively impacted due to various challenges the county is currently facing. A major challenge faced by the South African water sector is a shortage of critical water-related skills. South Africa’s largest water board (SALWB) situated in the Gauteng province is implementing a number of training programmes to address the skills shortage challenges. Training and development (T&D) initiatives implemented by SALWB are aimed at capacitating the water sector to ensure sustainable water supply networks. Individuals obtaining qualifications through these T&D initiatives will focus on the full cycle of water supply (e.g. water conservation and water demand management, operation and maintenance of infrastructure as well as the quality of potable water). T&D initiatives discussed in this paper also focus on socio-economic benefits for the country and add meaningful value to the South African water sector.

The experience of private investment in the South African water sector: The Mbombela Concession

South Africa is a water-stressed country that over a protracted period has suffered from poor water service delivery. The major problems are inefficient operations, lack of capacity in spending allocated budgets, unclear management structures, and a long-term decline in capital expenditure. Economists have long argued that private investment will bring good fiscal control and efficient structures and will improve service delivery. However, there may be trade-offs between this improved economic efficiency and the necessity to pursue more egalitarian social outcomes. The purpose of this research is to explore the experience of private-sector investment on operational efficiencies and social objectives in the South African water sector in the Mbombela Concession. The study concludes that, in this case, private investment has enhanced service delivery by improving efficiency, technical skills and the capacity to spend allocated budgets without any significant negative impacts on equitable water distribution.

Learning Dilemmas in a Social-Ecological System: An Agent-Based Modeling Exploration

The process of learning in social-ecological systems is an emerging area of research, but little attention has been given to how social and ecological interactions motivate or inhibit learning. This is highly relevant to the South African water sector, where a major policy transition is occurring that provides local water users and managers with new opportunities to engage in adaptive learning about how to balance human and ecological needs for water. In this paper, an agent-based model is used to explore potential 'learning dilemmas', or barriers to learning in the South African water sector, whereby human perceptions combined with social-ecological conditions affect the capacity, understanding, and willingness required to learn. Agents manage water according to different management strategies and use various indicators to evaluate their success. The model shows that in areas with highly variable hydrological regimes, agents may be less able to learn because conditions are too unpredictable for them to benefit from past experience. Because of these changing conditions, however, agents are more likely to try new water management strategies, promoting a greater diversity of experience in the system for agents to learn from in the future. In water-stressed areas, where agents tend to have greater difficulty fulfilling demand for water than in areas with abundant water supplies, they are also more apt to try new strategies. When learning is restricted to small areas, agents may learn more quickly but based on a more narrow range of experience than in larger or more heterogeneous areas. These results suggest a need to enhance learning so that it accounts for interacting hydrological, ecological, and social dynamics. Although the model is a highly stylised version of reality, this preliminary exploration may eventually help to reverse the past trend of poor understanding of social-ecological dynamics as they relate to water management.

Scenarios for the South African Water Sector in 2025

In 2008 the Water Research Commission initiated a project to develop ‘Water Sector Institutional Landscape in 2025 Scenarios’. The aim was to build knowledge about key drivers and uncertainties related to the future of the South African water sector. A diverse group of stakeholders contributed to the development of the drivers, which translated into different scenarios and associated stories that have potential implications for social and economic development, as well as for the management of water resources and water services. The four scenarios were derived from a matrix with two axes that represent the ability of the decision-making paradigm of water institutions to deal with complexity, and the reconciliation of environmental, social and economic demands of present and future generations (sustainability). The Wise Tortoise scenario describes a sector which deals with complexity and is sensitive to sustainability issues, whereas the Ignorant Ostrich scenario describes the opposite conditions. The Greedy Jackal and Busy Bee scenarios describe the other combinations of the key drivers. The scenarios provide stakeholders and policy-makers in South Africa’s water sector with insights to strengthen decision-making and to counter undesirable trajectories of change. The knowledge will empower role players in the water sector to engage in participative governance by equipping them with insights into potential futures that the South African water sector may face. This paper reports on the process to develop these scenarios for the South African water sector institutional landscape in 2025, presents the key forces, introduces the stories, and reflects on the use of scenarios in the water sector.

Life-cycle assessments in the South African water sector: A review and future challenges

This paper reviews South African water sector life-cycle assessments (LCAs) and develops a position on how this tool could be strategically employed in the future. It summarises the studies undertaken, highlighting the significant findings and the lessons learnt. In addition, international trends and their implications for the local LCA community and the water sector are presented and strategic recommendations for the future are included. The various LCA studies undertaken in the local water industry have shown that the abstraction of water from the environment (in a country where it is a limited resource) and the use of energy for treating and pumping water and wastewater have the highest environmental burdens. These studies have also demonstrated the versatility of LCA as a decision-making tool in the water industry by comparing technologies and scenarios, identifying improvement opportunities and prioritising interventions and their consequences in complex water systems. Recent international work has confirmed the usefulness of a life-cycle approach also for water footprinting. Therefore, in South Africa it is important to promote the use of LCAs for the water sector in order to improve efficiency of processes and systems, but also to promote life-cycle based water footprinting and to include differentiated water consumption data into life-cycle inventories to make more efficient use of water as a resource.

Discovering Resilient Pathways for South African Water Management: Two Frameworks for a Vision

Factors that constitute resilience can themselves change over time in social-ecological systems. This poses a major challenge for understanding resilience and suggests greater investigation is needed of how social-ecological systems evolve through time and how to manage along more resilient pathways given continuous change. Resilient pathways account for the changing context of social- ecological systems, such as changing management discourses and their societal inclusiveness, changing system boundaries and external connections, and lingering consequences of past management actions. In this paper I use two well-known conceptual frameworks to explore change in social-ecological systems and associated resilience in the case of water management in South Africa, which is undergoing a major transformation: (1) the conceptual framework of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) and (2) the adaptive cycle described by Holling and others. Both frameworks, with minor adaptations, illustrate the system's shift from a centralized command-and-control style bureaucracy to a decentralized system guided by new legislation and a vision to balance efficiency, equity, and sustainability. During the former era, water managers attempted to maintain system stability and productivity through institutional and technical means that favored certain sectors of society, but resilience of the water management system declined as a result of increasingly unpopular policies and loss of ecosystem services. In using both frameworks, it becomes clear that the water management system contains two distinct social subsystems, representing South Africa's previously advantaged and disadvantaged populations, and that these do not progress through the phases of the MA framework and adaptive cycle uniformly. This implies particular challenges for achieving the water management vision: (1) the potential for management discourses to be manipulated by powerful groups, (2) equity issues that reflect new system boundaries that extend beyond South Africa's borders, and (3) past overallocation and poor management of water that make the previous level of privileges unattainable today. The South African water sector is a compelling case because of its dramatic transformation with as-yet unknown outcomes, but it presents challenges that are common among many large-scale social-ecological systems. With great international interest in operationalizing resilience definitions and frameworks, this exercise suggests the need to revisit definitions, continue applying these frameworks, and adapting them to capture variations in social-ecological systems.