Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Nov - Dec Vol. 9 No.6 | Page 8

NEWS in brief

Around Africa

In more than half of the country, South Africans are using
more water than what’s available. They are already using 98%
of our available water supply, and 40% of our wastewater
treatment is in a “critical state”.

In Mingkaman, Lakes State, heavy rains caused flooding
in several areas of the sites, which together shelter around
100,000 displaced people. Partners responded by re-opening
roads

A staggering 37% of our clean, drinkable water is being
lost through inefficient ways of using water such as leaking
pipes, dripping taps – and that is what’s being reported, the
figure could be much higher.

and drainage between and within the sites, raising shelters
where needed or establishing small-scale flood mitigation.

A recent government report has found that a whopping
R293bn needs to be spent over the next five years, otherwise
South Africa faces a looming water crisis. This is 100 times
more than the R2.9bn the department is expected to spend
this year on water infrastructure management, Treasury
estimates show.

Meanwhile, relocation of displaced people to the new PoC site
in Bor, Jonglei State was completed on 27 October. The new
site provides improved living conditions on less floodprone
land than the old PoC site. Partners were still verifying the
total number of people relocated, including those who
received plots, shelter material and other humanitarian as
sistance. The last official biometric registration in September
confirmed about 2,700 individuals. At the height of the
violence in Bor in January, some 17,000 people sought
refuge in the UN base.

These worrying findings in the department of water and
sanitation (DWS) report emerged just weeks after Water
Minister Nomvula Mokonyane denied there was a crisis in SOURCE Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in South
the sector, blaming severe water shortages across Gauteng on Sudan
a “technical glitch” and the theft of electricity cables.
But experts say that the rest of the country is also already “at
tipping point”.

South Sudan
Flooding in Displacement Sites
Juba, South Sudan — Seasonal flooding has taken
its toll on people sheltering in displacement sites,
with some people living knee-deep in mud in some

South Sudan flooding compounds nightmare

locations. Living conditions in the Bentiu Protection
of Civilian (PoC) site in Unity State remained dire
due to flooding. An estimated 47,000 people are
sheltering in Bentiu PoC site. Efforts to pump out
floodwater from the PoC site continued, with water
levels brought down by as much as 50 cm in the
worst-affected areas.
Sanitation coverage was at one latrine for every 96
people.

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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November - December 2014