South Africa’s water challenge is no longer a distant risk; it’s a lived reality affecting households, cities and the economy every day. The
To help stabilise supply in Gauteng, the Minister of Water and Sanitation has also approved an urgent water-use licence for Rand Water to abstract additional water from the Integrated Vaal River System for three months. This is a clear signal of how acute the situation has become.
The question is not whether we need to act, but how quickly we can shift from reactive crisis response to resilient water systems that consistently deliver a safe, reliable supply.
From crisis response to resilience: Fewer losses, smarter operations, safer reuse
Resilience can sound abstract, but in water systems it becomes practical very quickly. It means keeping water in the network, keeping infrastructure working, and recovering value from wastewater safely.
South Africa’s long-term outlook underlines why this is important. Siemens’ Pictures of Transformation research warns that the country could face a water deficit of 17% by 2030, with 60% of rivers over-exploited, and 40% of wastewater untreated, alongside major losses from ageing infrastructure.
The same research points to what a better future requires: a digitised national monitoring approach that uses technologies like sensors and other IoT tools to detect problems, such as leakages, while smart metering improves readings, revenue collection and demand planning.
This is the heart of Siemens’ message. Build water resilience through digital technologies that optimise infrastructure performance, reduce non-revenue water, and enable safe reuse.
Reducing non-revenue water: the fastest win
Non-revenue water is one of the most immediate opportunities for improvement because it represents treated water that never reaches paying customers as it is lost through leaks, bursts, inaccurate metering or theft.
Globally, Siemens’ water portfolio highlights how artificial intelligence can make leak detection smarter and improve meter data management to combat non-revenue water and preserve scarce resources.
A practical illustration comes from Palma de Mallorca in Spain where a public utility integrated data from nearly 100 000 water meters and used analytics to support a transition to smart metering. While South Africa’s municipal realities differ, the principle travels well: better data improves decisions, reduces losses, and strengthens the financial base required to maintain infrastructure.
Modernising ageing assets: resilience is engineered
Ageing infrastructure multiplies risk. It increases failures, extends downtime and drives up water losses, especially under climate stress. Siemens’ water industry framing makes it clear that utilities face mounting pressure from climate change, urbanisation and pollution, making advanced technology and a holistic approach essential for sustainable supply and wastewater disposal.
In South Africa, one example of resilience in action is the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade and expansion for the City of Cape Town. The project expands the treatment plant’s capacity from 47 million litres to 100 million litres of treated wastewater per day, supporting a more climate-resilient wastewater system and improved recovery capacity.
Just as importantly, it shows how fit-for-purpose automation can strengthen process stability, support compliance, and help modernise critical water infrastructure.
Water resilience is also a people issue, and this includes gender. But resilience isn’t built by infrastructure alone. If data, technology and governance are the ‘how’, then people are the ‘who’, and South Africa’s water future depends on who gets included in designing and running solutions. The United Nations World Water Day campaign for 2026 is titled ‘Where water flows, equality grows’, emphasising safe water and sanitation as human rights and critical enablers of gender equality.
This is why water resilience must include women’s leadership, technical participation and visible career pathways. A recent example is the ‘Girls for Green Energy’ programme, launched through a partnership between the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and Siemens Energy. This initiative empowers girls and young women with the knowledge, skills and mindsets to lead in climate action and the global energy transition.
While the programme was initially piloted in Asia, the underlying lesson is global. The sustainability transition will only be resilient if the talent pipeline is inclusive. If we want water systems that endure climate pressure, we must invest not only in infrastructure and data, but also in who gets to build, lead and govern the solutions.
A practical agenda for South Africa
South Africa’s water resilience challenge will not be solved by any single organisation. But progress accelerates when municipalities and utilities have three things: reliable data, modernised infrastructure and committed partnerships, underpinned by governance reforms that make reinvestment possible.
If we focus on stopping losses, strengthening operations and enabling safe reuse while building a more inclusive workforce, we can turn water resilience into a credible national competitive advantage. Importantly, we can ensure that when water flows, it truly does help equality grow.
For more information contact Siemens South Africa, [email protected], www.siemens.co.za
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