Across communities from Limpopo to the Western Cape, poorly treated or untreated sewage is finding its way into rivers, dams, and the water sources that millions of people depend on for drinking, for farming, for survival.
This was as South Africa’s latest Green Drop Report showed a national essential service in critical condition.
The Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) says of the 848 wastewater treatment plants assessed across the country, 396 are in a critical state. Only around a quarter are performing well enough to meet required standards, it says.
For too long, Dr Lester Goldman, CEO of the WISA, says the country has treated wastewater treatment plants as invisible infrastructure, the “big toilets” of the country that only attract attention when they overflow.
He says that when nearly half of the country’s plants fail to meet basic standards, that invisibility becomes dangerous.
More than what meets the eye
WISA says the crisis is often blamed on ageing pipes and tight budgets. The professional body for water professionals says both are real. However, it says, they are symptoms, not the root cause.
“The harder truth is that infrastructure failures are the visible surface of something more entrenched, a fragmented governance model where financial constraints, procurement delays, and tariffs that don’t reflect actual costs make long-term sustainability almost impossible.”
According to WISA, municipalities are being squeezed from every angle. It says that the squeeze alone does not explain everything. “Some of what’s broken is a matter of focus.”
An ignored regulatory gap
Many municipalities are still operating as though Regulation 2834, an older framework built around baseline compliance and paperwork, is the standard they’re being held to, says Goldman.
However, he says it is not.
“Regulation 3630, the current framework, demands measurable performance and real service delivery outcomes. The gap between where many municipalities think the bar is and where it actually sits is, in itself, a governance failure.
“We cannot manage what we do not accurately measure, and we cannot fix what we refuse to hold to modern standards.”
How people are holding the system together
On the ground, WISA says a different story is playing out. It says South Africa does not lack talent. “We have skilled engineers, dedicated scientists, and process controllers who are constantly upskilling, people who show up and carry the system even when the system doesn’t carry them back.”
However, the organisation says that too many of them are working with one hand tied behind their backs. It says decisions sit with people who are not present.
“Resources are trapped in processes that don’t move. Institutional support, where it exists at all, is inconsistent.”
Goldman says one process controller in Limpopo put it: “We know how to run these plants. We keep improving. But without support, we can’t apply what we know. And when superiors don’t even show up to roadshows, you have to ask, why wouldn’t they want better water, better staff, better communities?”
The CEO says when leadership is absent, even the most skilled professional becomes a spectator to a slow-motion disaster. He says accountability is not just about finding someone to blame when things go wrong. It is about building a system that enables people to do things right, he says.
What WISA can and cannot do?
WISA says its role is specific but vital. It says they do not operate plants and do not have the legislative power to sanction a non-compliant municipality.
It adds that what they can do is professionalise the sector, setting rigorous standards, certifying skills, and amplifying the voices of practitioners who are too often unheard. “We ensure that when the necessary investment and political will arrive, there is a competent, ethical, and empowered workforce ready to deliver.
“But professional bodies alone cannot fix what governance, funding, and enforcement have allowed to deteriorate.”
What should be done now?
According to WISA, turning this around requires movement on three fronts simultaneously:
- Enforced accountability, moving beyond tick-box compliance and attaching real consequences to performance failures at the municipal leadership level.
- Financial realism, funding models and tariffs that reflect the true cost of running and maintaining a modern water system, not the cost of the system we wish we had.
- Institutional support, giving technical staff the authority and resources to match their expertise, so that competence can actually translate into results.
According to WISA, the Green Drop Report is not simply a warning. The organisation says it is a detailed picture of how infrastructure, finance, governance, and operations interact, and what happens when that interaction breaks down.
“The fix has to be equally joined-up.”
It says that cleaner rivers, lower public health costs, viable agriculture, and functioning ecosystems are within reach.
“But only if governance catches up with expertise.”
Meeting each other halfway
WISA says they remain committed to professional excellence and to the practitioners who deliver it every day. “Now we need the rest of the system to meet us there.”
“Because this was never really just about wastewater. It’s about whether South Africa can protect its water security, its public health, and its future. And on current evidence, we are running out of time to get it right.”
Water scarcity is one of South Africa’s most urgent infrastructure challenges, said Khurshid Fazel, who is a partner at Kiera Bracher and an associate at Webber Wentzel.
They said climate change, population growth and decades of underinvestment have created a water security crisis that can no longer be deferred.
Against this backdrop, they said South Africa’s first outcomes-based water bond marked a significant development in sustainable finance and in the legal frameworks governing impact-driven infrastructure investment.
“South Africa’s water sector is governed by a complex regulatory environment, shaped by the National Water Act and related instruments governing resource allocation, catchment management and environmental compliance
“While the framework is robust, chronic underinvestment has left significant gaps in water security infrastructure, prompting growing interest in blended finance structures combining public, philanthropic and private capital,” they said.
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