Day zero is and will be the water challenge of the next decade for South Africa and the country must prepare better for more day zeros and water shedding, said non-profit civil action organisation Outa’s WaterCan initiative.

The organisation said that, while the recent reports of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan reaching day zero are concerning, it is not the first South African city or town to get close to day zero and it will not be the last.

“Cape Town made global headlines in 2018 as it neared day zero [and] during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, it was quite apparent that many smaller towns and villages have been living with day zero for years. It is estimated that about 20-million people have little to no access to safe or reliable water supplies, an unacceptable situation,” Outa commented in a statement on Wednesday.

The organisation recommends that the Department of Water and Sanitation must complete a “No Drop” assessment for the whole country, which must be a preemptive analysis on water losses as well as water scarcity.

“South Africa faces a deficit of 3.8-billion kilolitres of water by 2030. The best solutions do not always have to be the most expensive or the biggest, but they require planning and construction well ahead of day zero,” it continued, noting that discussions on Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan’s pending day zero started as early as 2019 and perhaps this problem could have alleviated  if the authorities had started to act early enough.

“The early warning of a day zero should have put effort to reducing the leaks in the metropolitan that loses 80-million litres of water a day to leaks. The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality is not the only one that is guilty of failing to deliver basic services.

“Municipalities across the country have failed to plan for climate shocks but also, the poor state of municipalities has resulted in local government being unable to respond to the poor quality of water, the poor state of wastewater treatment, the lack of access to water and the quantity of safe drinking water available.”

Moving forward, Outa suggested that the metropolitan clearly and publicly explain how it will ensure water for its communities and consult its communities.

“The plan to dig boreholes, use water tanks and other short-term plans should be shared.”

Further, it must develop medium- and long-term plans that could include reducing water flow, creating a stepped tariff for water users, building networks of volunteer engineers and working with citizen science groups and activists to help monitor water resources.

“The people of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan are entitled to a realistic plan and a municipality that delivers it. If the metropolitan cannot deliver, and soon, then national government should step in and work with the people. There is just too much on the line not to,” Outa concluded.