Factors affecting sustainable water use in South Africa : a case of Cape Town
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Authors
Musariri, Yeukai
Issue Date
2023-01-31
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
Sustainable City and Communities , SDG 11 Sustainable City and Communities , Unsafe water sources , Water shortages , Effective strategies , Sustainable water use , Cape Town
Alternative Title
Abstract
Cape Town's water shortages continue unabated, with most residents resorting to unsafe water
sources. The continuation of the water shortages has reached crisis level, which signals
challenges in the provision of clean, potable water in the city and the need for effective strategies
to manage the crisis. To this end, the current study sought to establish the factors affecting
sustainable water use and the causes of the failure of sustainable water use in Cape Town. The
study's main aim was to ascertain the factors affecting sustainable water use in Cape Town,
South Africa. The philosophy adopted in the study was pragmatism, with deductive research
being the preferred approach and a descriptive case study design being used. The study's target
population comprised the total number of Cape Town residents and water management officials
from the municipality who were sampled through a combination of systematic and typical case
purposive sampling. Research instrumentation for the study included 362 semi-structured
research questionnaires and 20 key informant interviews. It was established that the most critical
factors leading to the water crisis in Cape Town include the failure to invest in water services
(mean of 4.36), increased water consumption arising from urbanisation (mean of 4.81) and
increasing demand for water from various user sectors like agriculture, mining, and industry
(4.91 mean response). The findings also suggest that such climate change-related issues as
rainfall variability (mean response of 4.6) and flooding (4.7 means) have negatively contributed
to Cape Town's water crisis. The significant challenges in the sustainable use of water in Cape
Town were found to include the lack of knowledge on the importance of water (mean 4.18), cost
burdens (4.35 mean), political and administrative bottlenecks (4.09 mean) as well as weak
institutional capacities in dealing with the water crisis (mean 4.73). The study also showed that
only the use of boreholes (mean 4.22) and water rationing (mean 4.46) are effective coping
strategies in managing the crisis. The causes of the water crisis significantly and negatively
affected the effectiveness of the coping strategies employed, and there is no significant
relationship between the challenges experienced in sustainable water use and the effectiveness
of the coping strategies employed in Cape Town, as established by the R2 coefficients of 0.748
and 0.068, respectively. Sustainable water use in Cape Town can be achieved through a
multiplicity of strategies which include attending to water networks and pipelines (mean 3.16),
using potable water (mean 3.66), fixing the water reticulation systems (mean 2.78) and
enhancing accountability in water governance (mean 2.79).