Food garden or swimming pool? South Africa’s water crisis isn’t just about a shortage. It’s about equality

South Africa is one of the world’s most water-scarce countries.

South Africans know what water shortages look like: taps dry , water restrictions, failing municipal infrastructure and growing competition for water between cities, farms and industry.

When there is not enough water to meet everyone’s needs, deciding who has access to water first is not just a technical question – it’s also one of fairness.

Read more: Why water rights aren’t enough to fix South Africa’s deeply unequal farming sector Most discussions focus on water scarcity.

However, having enough water is only part of the challenge.

Water needs to be shared fairly between households, farmers, businesses and the environment.

This raises a difficult question: what does “fair” actually mean? Municipalities have a legal duty to ensure everyone has equal access to water for their basic daily needs.

However, equal does not always mean equitable.

Giving a wealthy suburb and a struggling farming community the same amount of water may be equal, but it is not necessarily equitable if one community depends on that water to grow food and earn a living while the other uses it to fill a swimming pool.

We are a transdisciplinary team of water researchers who set out to discover what we mean by equality and equity in water.

We wanted to find ways to define and manage these concepts to help water services authorities.

Ultimately, we wanted to come up with a way to make sure that everyone in South Africa gets their fair share of water.

We looked at all the research into water equality and equity and then interviewed and surveyed people working in the local water sector.

Read more: The lack of water in South Africa is the result of a long history of injustice – and legislation should start there Our research found that equality and equity in water had different meanings for different people.