WESTERN CAPE Water MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2025

The report highlights a critical need for water infrastructure investment in South Africa due to ageing assets and recurrent droughts. It identifies two primary market opportunities: the localisation of manufacturing for water value chain components (particularly mechanical hardware for wastewater treatment works and pumps) and the adoption of innovative financing models to bridge a significant public funding gap. While metropolitan municipalities, including the City of Cape Town, have substantial planned expenditure, barriers such as complex procurement, technical skill shortages, and poor municipal financial management persist.

• South Africa faces a severe water crisis driven by recurrent droughts and ageing infrastructure, with estimated repair and upgrade backlogs of approximately R25 billion for municipal water and R332 billion for wastewater infrastructure.
• South African metropolitan municipalities have a combined planned water and sanitation infrastructure spend of approximately R54.6 billion for the medium term (2024/25 – 2026/27), with the City of Cape Town accounting for R22.4 billion of this total.
• Local municipalities in the Western Cape, excluding the City of Cape Town, plan to invest approximately R7.7 billion in water infrastructure over the same medium-term period, primarily targeting wastewater infrastructure, water distribution, and sewer reticulation.
• There is a significant opportunity for the localisation of manufacturing for mechanical hardware related to wastewater treatment works (WWTW) and pumps, as well as high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes as asbestos pipes reach end-of-life over the next 10 years.
• A substantial funding gap exists in the public sector; the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan estimates that R333 billion in additional funding is required over 10 years to meet universal access goals.
• Innovative financing models are necessary due to declining infrastructure grant allocations and municipal financial shortfalls. Initiatives like the Sustainable Infrastructure Development and Financial Facility (SIDAFF) and the Water Partnerships Office (WPO) aim to create bankable project pipelines for private and DFI investment.
• The 2022 Green Drop report indicates a general decline in wastewater treatment performance, with 39% of the 850 municipal WWTWs in a critical state (scoring 30% or less).
• National non-revenue water (NRW) increased from 37% in 2014 to 47% in 2023, significantly exceeding the international average of 30%.
• Investment in the public water sector is hindered by several barriers, including complex municipal procurement, a shortage of registered professional engineers, and poor revenue collection, with consumers owing municipalities an aggregated R347.6 billion as of March 2024.

APA

Roselt, M., Tyhali, A., & Mabila, N. (2025). WESTERN CAPE Water MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2025. GreenCape. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-Water-MIR-Final.pdf

Chicago

Roselt, Marielle, Akhona Tyhali, and Nkululeko Mabila. WESTERN CAPE Water MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2025. GreenCape, 2025. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-Water-MIR-Final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Roselt |first1=Marielle |last2=Tyhali |first2=Akhona |last3=Mabila |first3=Nkululeko |title=WESTERN CAPE Water MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2025 |publisher=GreenCape |date=2025 |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-Water-MIR-Final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{roselt2025western, author = {Roselt, Marielle and Tyhali, Akhona and Mabila, Nkululeko}, title = {{WESTERN CAPE Water MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORT 2025}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2025}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-Water-MIR-Final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }