South Africa has good water laws but bad services. What’s stopping fair access

Water affects almost every part of daily life: drinking, sanitation, food production, health, jobs and the natural environment.

Yet in South Africa, three million people don’t have clean running water, and 14 million have no flushing toilets.

Climate change and recurring droughts make the problem worse .

However, water shortages are not simply about how much water is available.

They also depend on how water is managed, maintained and shared.

Read more: The lack of water in South Africa is the result of a long history of injustice – and legislation should start there We are environmental science researchers who used water management as a way to examine two important ideas: sustainable development and environmental justice.

In simple terms, sustainable development means meeting people’s needs today without harming the ability of future generations to meet theirs.

Environmental justice means that everyone should have fair access to environmental benefits, such as clean water, and a meaningful say in decisions that affect them.

Read more: Water in the dams, but South Africa’s taps are dry: essential reads on a history of bad management Our recent paper asked a central question: what is stopping sustainable and fair water management from becoming a reality? We reviewed research on water management and interviewed 35 people from government, NGOs, academia, agriculture, mining and water services about the challenges of putting water policy into practice.

We also surveyed households about their experiences of unreliable or inadequate water supplies.

Our research found that South Africa’s post-apartheid water policy was widely seen as ambitious and progressive because it promises water for all.

Yet, three decades on, that promise remains largely unmet.

The problem is not the law itself, but that it has not been properly put into practice.

Too much bureaucracy, corruption, weak political commitment, government departments that do not work well together, and a lack of skills and capacity have all slowed progress.