Accessing Water

The case study examines a water concession involving Siza and SAUR Services, noting that while wealthier areas met water and sanitation targets, poorer areas did not. The arrangement faced financial instability due to rising bulk water costs, leading to contract adjustments that increased consumer prices and reduced investment. Key failures included a cholera outbreak caused by the poor accessing unhygienic water to avoid tariffs and a lack of municipal capacity.

• The water concession achieved water and sanitation targets in wealthier areas, but failed to meet all targets in poorer areas.
• Financial instability occurred when Siza could not pay concession fees in 2001, driven partly by a 20% increase in bulk water costs; this resulted in a contract adjustment that halved the municipality's annual concession fee until 2006, lowered investment commitments, and raised consumer prices.
• The lack of protections for the poor against tariff increases led to 140 cases of cholera in the first year of the concession, as residents used unhygienic streams instead of paying for treated water.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2008). Accessing Water. https://saiia.org.za/news/case-study-accessing-water/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Accessing Water. 2008. https://saiia.org.za/news/case-study-accessing-water/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Accessing Water |date=24 April 2008 |url=https://saiia.org.za/news/case-study-accessing-water/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2008accessing, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Accessing Water}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2008}, month = apr, url = {https://saiia.org.za/news/case-study-accessing-water/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }