Water Rights Tracker Report

Tracking South Africa’s Progress Towards Realising the Right to Water

Access to sufficient, safe and affordable water is a fundamental human right protected by South Africa’s Constitution. Yet for millions of people across the country, reliable water services remain uncertain. Ageing infrastructure, financial pressures, governance challenges, rapid urbanisation, climate impacts, and growing demand continue to place significant strain on the water sector.

The Water Rights Tracker (WRT) was established to provide a comprehensive, evidence-based view of how South Africa is progressing towards the realisation of the constitutional right to water. Developed through a collaboration between the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), the project brings together a wide range of national, provincial and municipal data to create a clear picture of water service delivery across the country.

Why the Water Rights Tracker Matters

South Africa generates large volumes of information about water services through government departments, regulatory bodies, municipalities, oversight institutions and research organisations. However, this information is often fragmented and difficult to interpret as a whole.

The Water Rights Tracker addresses this challenge by consolidating and analysing data from multiple sources to answer a critical question:

Is South Africa progressively realising the right of access to sufficient water for all people?

The project moves beyond simple service-delivery statistics by adopting a human rights-based approach that places people and communities at the centre of the analysis. It evaluates not only whether water services exist, but whether they are available, accessible, affordable, safe, reliable and sustainable.

A Human Rights-Based Approach

The Water Rights Tracker is grounded in the principles of the constitutional right to water and international human rights standards. The report assesses water service delivery against key dimensions of the right to water, including:

• Availability – whether sufficient water is available for domestic use.
• Quality – whether water is safe and suitable for human consumption.
• Physical Access – whether people can reasonably access water services near their homes.
• Economic Access – whether water remains affordable, especially for vulnerable households.
• Information Access – whether communities can obtain information about water services and governance.

By examining these interconnected dimensions, the report helps identify where progress is being made and where significant barriers remain.

Measuring Progressive Realisation

The Constitution recognises that universal access to water cannot be achieved overnight. Instead, government is required to take reasonable legislative, policy, financial and administrative measures to progressively expand access over time.

The Water Rights Tracker measures this concept of progressive realisation by evaluating:

• The strength of policies and regulatory frameworks.
• Municipal planning and governance capacity.
• Financial sustainability and resource allocation.
• Infrastructure investment, maintenance and renewal.
• Human resource and technical skills capacity.
• Service delivery outcomes experienced by communities.
• Oversight, accountability and regulatory compliance.

This approach allows the report to move beyond isolated incidents and identify broader patterns that influence water service delivery across South Africa.

Bringing Together a National Picture

The Water Rights Tracker draws on information from numerous authoritative sources, including:

• Department of Water and Sanitation (Blue Drop, Green Drop and No Drop programmes)
• Statistics South Africa
• National Treasury
• Auditor-General South Africa
• Municipal Integrated Development Plans and Water Services Development Plans
• South African Human Rights Commission investigations
• Parliamentary oversight processes
• Judicial decisions relating to water rights

The result is one of the most comprehensive assessments of water services and water rights performance available in South Africa.

Understanding the Drivers Behind Water Service Challenges

The report does not only identify service delivery outcomes; it also explores the systemic factors that influence those outcomes.

Key themes examined include:

• Governance and Leadership - Political instability, management turnover, corruption and weak institutional capacity can undermine effective water service delivery and long-term planning.
• Infrastructure and Maintenance - Many water systems depend on ageing infrastructure that requires significant maintenance, refurbishment and renewal to remain functional and reliable.
• Financial Sustainability - Municipal revenue constraints, growing consumer debt and limited funding can reduce the ability of water service authorities to maintain and expand services.
• Technical Skills and Capacity - The availability of engineers, process controllers, technicians and other specialists is critical to operating and maintaining water infrastructure effectively.
• Climate and Environmental Pressures - Drought, flooding, water scarcity and changing climatic conditions increasingly impact water availability and infrastructure resilience.
• Community and Consumer Factors - Affordability challenges, payment levels, vandalism, illegal connections and public perceptions of water services all influence sector performance.

Supporting Accountability and Better Decision-Making

The Water Rights Tracker is designed as a practical tool for:

• Communities and rights holders seeking information on water services.
• Municipalities and water service authorities.
• Provincial and national government departments.
• Oversight institutions and regulators.
• Researchers, civil society organisations and the media.
• Policymakers responsible for water sector reform.

By providing a shared evidence base, the project supports informed decision-making, transparency and accountability across the water sector.

Towards Universal Access to Water

The Water Rights Tracker is more than a reporting initiative. It is a long-term effort to establish a publicly accessible baseline for monitoring water rights across South Africa and to support continuous improvement in service delivery.

Through rigorous analysis, stakeholder engagement and ongoing monitoring, the project seeks to help answer one of South Africa’s most important development questions:

What actions are needed today to ensure that every person has reliable access to safe, sufficient and affordable water tomorrow?

The Water Rights Tracker provides the evidence, insights and accountability mechanisms needed to support that journey.