Water Research Commission Research Report: Social water scarcity and water use

This research undertaken by Barbara N Tapela of the African Centre for Water Research (and now at PLAAS) highlights issues of 'social water scarcity' in South Africa, which refers to the construct of resource management determined by political, economic and social power dynamics. Since secure access to water is an integral part of people's multi-faceted livelihoods, social water scarcity becomes most obvious at micro-levels, especially at community and household level, where people perceive scarcity in terms of their inability to access the quantity and quality of water they need to meet their multiple-use requirements. People who are water scarce are usually aware of the power dynamics surrounding water access and see social water scarcity as an end-product of dominance by more powerful political, economic and social forces. Where such relations (and the related institutions) are seen as sub-optimal they mobilise their individual and collective livelihood assets to cope with water insecurity and/or engage institutions around the need for change. Although, in post-apartheid South Africa, the government has broadened access to water, many rural and informal urban dwellers still lack adequate, safe drinking water, often due to institutional ineptitude or the lack of access to formal housing. Besides the amplified strategy of social protest, people with poor access to water continue to develop coping and adaptive strategies.