Water has quietly become prohibitively expensive

From the deserts of Saudi Arabia to the heartland of Africa, a 2021 survey of leading cities around the world named Johannesburg as having the highest price for tap water of the 25 metropolitans reviewed.

While Johannesburg was not the most expensive place to buy tap water – that honour goes to Oslo in Norway (R107.92) – they were more pricey for a kilolitre than some African countries.

According to German consumer data researcher Statista, a kilolitre in Cairo costs R1.29, the cheapest in Africa and the second-best in the world. In Johannesburg, a kilolitre will set you back close to R18.99 in 2022, the cheapest water tariff in South Africa’s five largest metros, reported Moneyweb in January.

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It is slightly less than Cape Town’s R20.75, whereas Durban, where the economic and infrastructural effects of the floods this year are yet to be felt, charges between 15% and 154% depending on the level of usage.

Water is the second-biggest cost to SA households after electricity, according to credit bureau TPN. It reported water tariffs make up 16.7% to 28.2% of the municipal bill, with municipal water tariffs rising by 6.8% for 2021-22, higher than inflation.

Water security, safety and self-sufficiency is becoming a factor in the lives of millions of South Africans as the economy slowly recovers and municipalities struggle to overcome crippling backlogs in infrastructural maintenance.

Off-the-grid water and electricity solutions are a way to take back responsibility for soaring municipal bills.

The Johannesburg Property Owners and Managers Association calculated that from 2008 to 2021, water charges had risen by 288%, while the average household income had only gone up by 119%.

While the public complains bitterly about the rise in electricity prices, water has quietly become prohibitively expensive. It is not just an expense issue, but one of health.

In April, the Blue Drop 2022 report showed a “significant” decline in the quality of South Africa’s water.

The report found that the majority of SA’s municipalities supplied tap water which presented a health danger. The report found “40% of water supply systems achieved microbiological water quality compliance and 23% have achieved chemical water quality compliance, while 66% of water supply systems have adequate microbiological monitoring compliance and 17% have adequate chemical monitoring compliance”.

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Employees of JoJo are seeing more and more South Africans going off the grid in terms of their water supply, in what is becoming a fragile and increasingly expensive commodity.

While home water solutions can seem complex, bulky and expensive, they are simple and affordable in their planning, installation and execution. You need the basics of collection, storage, pumping and filtration.

The solutions are space efficient and, should a homeowner chose to move home, can also be taken with you.

-Badenhorst is executive: sales, marketing and distribution at JoJo