The number of people without access to water is growing in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is the only region of the world where this is happening. About 387 million people lived without access to basic ...

The pursuit of profit tends to lead to unequal service provision. Already, about 600,000 households in Cape Town rely on Free Basic Water -- an amount which is insufficient for many families, causing ...

As the planet gets hotter and freshwater sources dry up, cities and towns will not be able to continue the global norm of ...

South Africa’s Water Research Commission recently commissioned a study into using seawater to flush toilets in Cape Town.

Read more: Water crisis in South Africa: damning report finds 46% contamination ... The South African National Standard for Drinking Water (SANS 241) sets limits on the levels of microbiological ...

The first problem is that the city uses clean, treated drinking water for toilet flushing. Generally, 20%-30% of the city’s drinkable water supply to households is used to flush toilets.

If the water levels of our reservoirs run too low, then one day we might turn on our taps - and nothing would happen. This region is one the parts of Africa that’s furthest away from the equator.

“South Africa is not a newcomer to water reuse,” said Bhagwan. The country began investigating the direct reuse of treated effluent for drinking water purposes 40 years ago. However, he said ...