In the South African context, upgrading to, and delivery of a basic water-supply service to small-community households is expected to bring benefits such as reduced exposure to contaminated drinking water. A basic water-supply service mostly means that water is distributed to the community via communal taps that are not on the households’ premises (DWA, 2003). While this is seen as an improvement, people still have to use plastic containers (mostly 20-25ℓ volume) to collect water from the taps and store in their houses (Nala et al., 2003). Authors report that, from a health-related microbial water quality perspective, the management (e.g. poor container-hygiene practices) of household containers cause microbial re-contamination of good quality water (Gundry et al., 2004; Jagals et al., 2004; Jensen et al., 2002). This implies that household container water pose a risk of microbial infection to an individual if used for drinking without any household level disinfection. Providing clean water to households, even thought they might still have to use the containers, does limit the extent of the recontamination because of consistent use with the clean water as opposed to when communities use these containers to source contaminated surface waters (Mokoena et al., 2010). When the supply system fails, which was reported to happen frequently in the study area (Rietveld et al., 2009), the affected communities will return to their original source of water, using the same containers to collect what is often contaminated water (Momba et al., 2006). While it is plausible that the probable risk of infection will change with these service inconsistencies, it has not conclusively been shown what the effect of it might be on risk. This submission demonstrates how a quantitative microbial risk assessment (WHO, 2004) can be used as a tool to assess these shifts in risk, offering another technique to assess the effectiveness of a small-community water supply service. The aim of the study was assess, after implementation with subsequent operation and maintenance of two small-community water supply schemes, the effect of service delivery on the annual risk of bacterial infection for individuals based on pathogenic E. coli in the water that the people in the community drink.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2016. / This study reports on water service delivery and it is a research that was undertaken in the Greater Giyani Municipality situated in Mopani District of Limpopo Province of the Republic of South Africa (RSA). The main aim of the study is to present the community’s perception on water service delivery challenges facing municipalities in the RSA and to make recommendations towards the development of both the community and the municipality. The motivation for this research was an upsurge in water delivery protests throughout South Africa and some of these protests have resulted in an unfortunate killing of citizens in the country during 2012, 2013 and 2014. In order to accomplish the aim of the study, several objectives were addressed. In the first part of the study, a literature review and identification of the context within which water is rendered in Greater Giyani Municipality is explained. The thesis then presents findings from the survey and an evaluation of the community perceptions of the quality of water service delivery. Following the survey report are the findings from the interviews held with municipal managers. From these combined findings recommendations are made towards water service delivery improvement. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used in the study. A questionnaire collected data from eighty five (85) participants (households) of Kremetart Township. Following the community survey, interviews were held with eight (8) municipal officials within the Greater Giyani Municipality. Respondents from the community (households) were randomly sampled, while municipal officials were purposefully sampled to represent those responsible for water service delivery. The questionnaire distributed to community members comprised of both closed and open ended questions with completion duration of 30 minutes. Semi-Structured interviews were used to derive an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon from the municipal officials. Major findings arising from the community survey are that clean water, sanitation, aging pipelines, lack of infrastructure and free basic services were the main service delivery challenges. However, from the municipal officials, issues of maladministration appeared more prevalent. The issue of maladministration emanates from the confusion of duties and functions between councillors and the council officials. Also of concern from the officials are issues of community engagement. The last area of concern raised by both the community and the municipal officials is payment for services. Whilst the municipal issues are centred on old infrastructure, the communities’ issues weigh more on payment of inadequate and unreliable services. The study makes several recommendations to the municipality, which if addressed, may improve service delivery and lead to positive perceptions by the community and towards significant development of the town. In order to overcome the challenge of service delivery, municipalities may consider prioritising capacity building, ensure that staff are recruited and employed on the basis of merit and also ensure that public participation is not hindered, especially functionality of ward committee structures.

Thesis ( M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2018 / This study reflects on the effectiveness of municipal water service delivery in Hluvukani community in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga. Since the study wanted to have an in-depth understanding of the strategies/methods that the municipality use to deliver water services effectively in Hluvukani, both the qualitative and quantitative research approaches were used. It is within these methodologies that a case study was adopted to seek to deepen the strategies used by government and municipal officials to address the challenges of water experienced by villagers in Hluvukani. Three methods of data collection were used, namely: interviewing, non- participant observation and documents. Hluvukani village was selected as a site for the study by means of purposive sampling. The participants interviewed included the municipal manager, the municipal officials, Hluvukani villagers and officials from the Department of Water Affairs. The documents consulted included the municipal IDP and the 2015/2016 Municipal Budget. This study found that villagers have difficulties in accessing water at Hluvukani and the water service delivery was not effective even though the municipal manager claimed otherwise. This was manifested by the strategies that were used to delivery water such as using delivery trucks to supply water to Hluvukani villages every two weeks. This, the researcher found ineffective as people had to live without water delivery for a period up to four weeks.

The start of the 21th century is notable for the apparent lack of safe drinking water and sanitation. Over one billion people in all parts of the world lack access to clean water. Most live in developing countries, such as Africa. Unsafe water and poor sanitation have been primary causal factors in the vast majority of water-borne diseases, especially diarrheal ones. The South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996, Chapter 2, Section 24) states: “Everyone has the right: (a) To an environment that is not harmful to their health and their wellbeing; and (b) To have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promote conservation; ecologically sustainable development, and the use of natural resources, while promoting justifiable economic and social development.” Secondly, section 27 states that: “Everyone has the right to have access to: (a) Health-care services, including reproductive health care; (b) Sufficient food and water; and (c) Social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance.” These factors have prompted this research within the Ugu District Municipality on the perceptions of inadequate rural water service delivery. This study reveals information on those areas in the Ugu District Municipality, which do not have access to clean water, and on the health hazards that might lead to death if residents’ lack of access to clean water persists. The Ugu District Municipality, is situated in KwaZulu-Natal Province, and covers a surface area of 5866 km2. There are six local municipalities in this district. These are: Ezinqoleni, Umzumbe, Umziwabantu, Hibiscus Coast, Umdoni and Vulamehlo. The node is 77% rural and 23% urban, and the total population for this area is 704027 (Ugu District Municipality IDP 2nd 2011/2012:19). / M. Development and Management (Water Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

The start of the 21th century is notable for the apparent lack of safe drinking water and sanitation. Over one billion people in all parts of the world lack access to clean water. Most live in developing countries, such as Africa. Unsafe water and poor sanitation have been primary causal factors in the vast majority of water-borne diseases, especially diarrheal ones. The South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996, Chapter 2, Section 24) states: “Everyone has the right: (a) To an environment that is not harmful to their health and their wellbeing; and (b) To have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promote conservation; ecologically sustainable development, and the use of natural resources, while promoting justifiable economic and social development.” Secondly, section 27 states that: “Everyone has the right to have access to: (a) Health-care services, including reproductive health care; (b) Sufficient food and water; and (c) Social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance.” These factors have prompted this research within the Ugu District Municipality on the perceptions of inadequate rural water service delivery. This study reveals information on those areas in the Ugu District Municipality, which do not have access to clean water, and on the health hazards that might lead to death if residents’ lack of access to clean water persists. The Ugu District Municipality, is situated in KwaZulu-Natal Province, and covers a surface area of 5866 km2. There are six local municipalities in this district. These are: Ezinqoleni, Umzumbe, Umziwabantu, Hibiscus Coast, Umdoni and Vulamehlo. The node is 77% rural and 23% urban, and the total population for this area is 704027 (Ugu District Municipality IDP 2nd 2011/2012:19). / M. Development and Management (Water Studies), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

LLM / Department of Public Law / Historically, there were enormous differences and inequalities with regard to service delivery in South Africa. Traceable to the apartheid period, these inequalities included, inter alia, supply of inadequate and safe drinking water for black communities in particular those at rural areas. Yet, water is an essential necessity for human beings, regardless of race, disability and social status. As a legislative measure to redress the injustices of the apartheid regime, the right to have access to sufficient water is entrenched in Section 27(1) (b) of the South African Constitution of 1996. Also, several legal instruments such as the National Water Act of 1998 and the Water Service Act of 1997 were enacted to uphold the human right to water. The Constitution bestowed the responsibility of water supply and management to the national, provincial and the local government. Despite its inadequacy, the South African government is addressing the water needs of the most impoverished communities by guaranteeing each household a free minimum quantity of potable water of 25 litres per person per day or 6 kiloliters per household per month. Any person who needs more will come under privatisation model which key provisions on the existing law favors. About 38.4% of the population of South Africa who reside in rural communities are poor and mostly affected by inadequate water service delivery in that they cannot afford payment for water in excess of the minimum for which no fees is charged. As a concept, affirmative action is generally used in the context of work places to ensure that qualified marginalized groups have equal opportunities to get a job, but it is not yet investigated in the context of water service delivery. This study assessed laws governing water service delivery and explored how affirmative action can be used as an instrument to ensure the delivery of potable water to rural population in South Africa.