Water and climate nexus: South Africa’s imperative for resilience

SOUTH Africa is a water-scarce country, facing profound water security challenges that are now being compounded by climate change.

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South Africa's climate story is in many ways is a water story.

Droughts and floods arrive in the same breath, shifting from one extreme to the next with devastating consequences.

As climate impacts intensify, water emerges not merely as a casualty but as a catalyst shaping emissions, resilience, and social justice.

IfSouth Africa fails to integrate water into its climate response, it risks compounding crises of scarcity, inequity, and fragility.

The Climate Crisis as a Water Crisis

At its core, South Africa's climate crisis is a water crisis.

Floods, droughts, and crumbling infrastructure are no longer distant risks they are lived realities.

The 2015-2018 Cape Town drought, culminating in the looming Day Zero, revealed how quickly urban centres can edge toward collapse and how collective conservation can avert disaster.

In April 2022, KwaZulu-Natal experienced devastating floods in Durban and surrounding areas, displacing thousands, causing widespread destruction, and highlighting the deadly consequences of extreme rainfall events in densely populated regions.

More recently, in June 2025, torrential rains triggered catastrophic flooding in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, killing over 100 people.

These events are not isolated anomalies; they are symptoms of a deeper, structural crisis.

Studies estimate that by 2030, South Africa could face a 17% national water shortfall, driven by rising demand, aging and failing infrastructure, and chronic underinvestment.

Compounding this scarcity is a quieter, insidious threat: collapsing water quality. Sewage pollution, acid mine drainage, and industrial effluent choke rivers and wetlands.

During droughts, pollutants concentrate; during floods, they spread into homes, farms, and water supply systems, fuelling disease, eroding ecosystems, and deepening the vulnerability of poorer communities.