01 What Happened

South Africa’s Cabinet statement issued on August 28 reported progress by the Water Partnership Office. Under the Non-Revenue Water Programme, eThekwini Municipality secured R379 million over six years to reduce water losses. Under the Water Re-Use Programme, 34 municipalities completed climate-risk assessments and USD 235 million was secured from the Green Climate Fund to advance reuse projects. Under the Seawater Desalination Programme, a proposal was submitted to the City of Cape Town to support the Paarden Eiland desalination PPP project.

02 Key Takeaways

  • 01 eThekwini secured R379 million over six years for non-revenue-water reduction.
  • 02 USD 235 million from the Green Climate Fund was secured to advance municipal water-reuse projects.
  • 03 Cape Town received a proposal to support the Paarden Eiland desalination PPP.

03 Why It Matters

The strategic value is the sequencing.

New water does not always begin with a new treatment plant. Reducing non-revenue water can recover already-treated supply at lower energy intensity; reuse can then convert wastewater into a dependable local source; desalination can serve as a higher-cost drought-resilience option where coastal demand justifies it.

04 ATLAS Engineering View

That portfolio approach is stronger than evaluating each project in isolation. NRW reduction has different risks from reuse, and reuse has different energy, concentrate and public-acceptance constraints from seawater desalination. The correct planning question is how much firm yield each intervention adds, at what lifecycle cost, and how the measures interact under drought conditions.

05 Sources