Water Governance in Cape Town, South Africa
In 2018, the city of Cape Town, South Africa, was close to the “Day Zero”, requiring
all taps to be shut off and citizens to fetch a daily 25 litre per person. Though
the day-zero was avoided, it is estimated that, at the current rate, South Africa
will experience a 17% water deficit by 2030 if no action is taken to respond to existing
trends. Lessons learned during that drought crisis have been valuable for the city
to manage the short-term COVID-19 implications and design long-term solutions towards
greater water resilience. As a result of a multi-stakeholder policy dialogue involving
100+ stakeholders from the city of Cape Town and South Africa, this report assesses
key water risks and governance challenges in Cape Town, and provides policy recommendations
towards more effective, efficient and inclusive water management building on the OECD
Principles on Water Governance. In particular, the report calls for strengthening
integrated basin governance, transparency, integrity, stakeholder engagement, capacities
at all levels of government, financial sustainability and for advancing the water
allocation reform to better manage trade-offs across multiple users.
Available from March 24, 2021
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