SA’s water crisis is a management, not just infrastructure, problem

As we observe International Water Week (Monday 16 to Friday 20 March), much of the conversation tends to revolve around a single, costly term: infrastructure.

In South Africa, this conversation is often framed by a staggering figure – an estimated R400 billion maintenance backlog.

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While President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2026 State of the Nation Address rightly highlighted water security as a defining national priority, focusing only on “fixing the pipes” risks oversimplifying the complexity of the challenge.

While infrastructure remains critical, it is equally important to recognise the role of effective water management and catchment stewardship, which are essential for securing long-term water resilience.

At Sappi, our perspective is shaped by the uMkhomazi River, which provides a powerful – and practical – case study about the social contract around water usage.

Our Saiccor Mill, a global hub for woodfibre innovation, is a massive engine for the KwaZulu-Natal economy, supporting thousands of jobs and generating billions in foreign revenue.

To sustain this, we don’t just ‘use’ water; we manage the ecosystem.

Through our partnership with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), we invest heavily in the upstream catchment by clearing invasive alien plants – which are biological ‘water thieves’ – monitor water quality with citizen scientists, and work with communal landowners to ensure the river remains a living, functional asset for everyone.

However, a new narrative is emerging from eThekwini. Faced with urban shortages, there are proposals to draw water directly from the uMkhomazi to supply Durban’s suburbs and industry.

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The risk here is profound.

If the government views a river simply as a pipe to be tapped – without considering the existing economic ecosystem, the downstream jobs and the rural communities already dependent on that flow – they are simply relocating a crisis.

Infrastructure without integrated management is a zero-sum game.

This isn’t just a KZN issue. It is a national and transboundary reality. Look at the Integrated Vaal River System and our reliance on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.

Whether it is water flowing across the Lesotho border or from the Drakensberg to the Indian Ocean, the challenge is the same: we cannot build our way out of a management deficit.

The subjects of water and access to water are going to become increasingly emotive over time.

We have seen various flashpoints featured in the media, where decisions about water usage are made to appease those who shout the loudest – and we hear them: we should all have access to clean water.

The concern, however, is that such decisions are driven by short-term thinking rather than tapping into those who have a wealth of experience around water management.

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Whether it is eThekwini or Gauteng, roughly 50% of piped water is lost through leaking infrastructure. The problem is that we are trying to address a water infrastructure issue without understanding the impact of water management processes.

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This is where our partnership with the WWF moves from ‘nice to have’ to ‘business-critical’. Across seven workstreams – including Water Governance and Sustainable Finance – we are proving that you can balance profit and purpose.

Coupled with this, ‘citizen scientists’ have conducted water quality monitoring at Nzinga, Stofelton and Ntshiyabantu to establish baseline data for the uMkhomazi catchment.

Read: Water ‘bankruptcy’ era has begun for billions, scientists say

Sampling sites in Nzinga and Ntshiyabantu were located near local dumpsites to track improvements as cleanup efforts progressed, while in Stofelton, sites upstream and downstream of the uMkhomazi River were used to assess the impact of community activities and tributary inputs.

Additionally, emerging research from the Gerana Initiative highlights the growing recognition that the health of river basins, soils and ecosystems is fundamental to long-term business resilience.

Its soon-to-be-launched market opportunity scoping (MOS) study explores how companies are beginning to respond to mounting pressures in the landscapes that underpin global supply systems.

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Supported by Sappi, the research also informs the development of Landscape Discovery Labs, including in the uMkhomazi River Basin in KZN, where the company works alongside farmers, foresters, communities and public institutions to strengthen landscape-level stewardship.

What is important to remember about these projects is that they are a small component of a much larger ecosystem.

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This ecosystem is under severe pressure, and as we have seen from recent headlines, these issues will impact you whether you are the president of the country or the CEO of a business.

The only way we can tackle such a big problem is through collaboration and long-term planning.

By identifying 200 000 hectares for potential biodiversity protection and leveraging co-financing from partners like Sanlam and Nedbank, we are creating a blueprint for water stewardship that doesn’t wait for a R400 billion government cheque that may never arrive.

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The game has changed. For an executive in a water-intensive industry, water usage is no longer just a line item in a sustainability report. It is at the core of our social contract.

If we want to secure our ‘license to operate’, we must stop looking at water as a commodity to be extracted and start recognising catchments as assets to be managed.

The question for leadership in 2026 is no longer ‘How much infrastructure can we build?’ but rather ‘How much ecosystem can we protect?’

The future of South Africa’s economy isn’t just in the pipes – it’s in the hills, the tributaries, and the collaborative management of the water that connects us all.

Graeme Wild is the CEO of Sappi Southern Africa.

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