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Chapter 5: Access to Basic Water Services
BETWEEN 2001 AND
2011, THE PERCENTAGE
OF HOUSEHOLDS WITH
PIPED WATER HAS
INCREASED TO
46.3%
Bucket-toilet eradication programme
From 2007–2010 more than 1,000 bucket-toilet systems in formalised areas
were eradicated after R1.2 billion was allocated to a special bucket eradication
programme. This was seen as a major milestone as communities’ lives were
significantly improved with better sanitation facilities and services.
In addition to this, between the Censuses of 2001 and 2011 major milestones were
achieved in the eradication of water and sanitation backlogs. In terms of basic water
supply, South Africa halved the backlog in 2005, thus achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) 10 years ahead of the 2015 target date. In terms of
sanitation, there has been a 40% improvement since 1994, which is also well within
the timeframe of the MDGs.
FIGURE 5.2: THE NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS THAT HAVE GAINED ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES
Households with access
Households without access
Source: National Treasury, 2014 (based on 2001 and 2011 Census Data)
Just less than half
of all households
in South Africa get
their water from
a tap inside their
home. A further
27% have a tap on
their property and
12% walk less than
200m to get water.
Water on tap
Just less than half of all households in South Africa get their water from a tap
inside their home. A further 27% have a tap on their property and 12% walk less
than 200m to get water. Approximately 6% of the population accesses piped water
at a distance greater than the target for ‘basic services’, which is 200m. Around 9%
of the population does not have access to piped water, with the highest incidence
in rural areas and townships of the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and
Mpumalanga. Remote areas that do have basic services experience frequent
breakdowns that often take a while to fix and people therefore live with unreliable
water supplies and compromised sanitation systems.
Service-delivery protests
Service-delivery protests about inaccessibility to water and sanitation have been
ongoing throughout South Africa as some areas remain un-serviced or serviced with
infrastructure that is unreliable and faulty. The focus on infrastructure extension
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