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How South Africa designed its water system for reuse

South Africa’s established approach to water reuse is shaping the country’s response to growing water scarcity says Jay Bhagwan, Senior Research Manager for Water Quality and Health at the Water Research Commission.

Speaking to ESI Africa on the future of treated effluent as part of the national water supply, Bhagwan said the shift toward widespread reuse is already underway.

“It’s a matter of time that most of us on this planet will be drinking water directly from what we would call the effluent or from our usage. Already in South Africa, 60 to 65% of our water is reused, de facto reused. So we call it de facto because it’s indirect.”

Bhagwan explains that this approach has deep roots in national planning. “And in terms of our water management strategy in the country, we already had designed it as a water-scarce country to ensure that we were returning flows into our streams and rivers that were available downstream for others to utilise.”

He adds that this system has always relied on strong oversight. “So historically, we had a robust water management environment around managing the quantity and the quality.”