a) Areas experiencing water shortages are mostly rural areas in the provinces of the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu Natal, Free State and the Northern Cape. In addition, 32% households in South Africa do not have access to a reliable services due to dilapidated infrastructure as well as lack of proper operations and maintenance of existing infrastructure which results in disruptions and shortage of water supply.
Access to sanitation services is less than 85% in six provinces including in the Free State (82.3%), KwaZulu Natal (KZN) (80.9%), Limpopo (63.7%), North West (68.8%), Mpumalanga (63.7%), and Northern Cape (83.9%). Access in the provinces of, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West are below the national average at 82.1%. in the efforts to remedy these challenges, the DWS will be submitting a National Sanitation Framework (NSF) to Cabinet for approval.
The framework seeks to:
b) The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is in the process of planning and implementing a range of major projects to augment national bulk water resource infrastructure and is in the process of establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA) to finance and implement the large-scale investments in national water resource infrastructure that are required to ensure that South Africa has sufficient bulk water supply now and in future. The use of groundwater, desalination of seawater and rainwater harvesting are also being implemented to address local water requirements.
The DWS will strengthen its role in supporting and intervening in municipalities where water and sanitation services are failing, in conjunction with provinces, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, National Treasury and the South African Local Government Association. This will be done in the spirit of cooperative governance in the Constitution to avoid creating inter-governmental conflict. The service delivery imporvement plan will include:
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