Sustainable and equitable water for informal settlements, most informal settlement residents rely on traditional pit latrines-a technology that falls short of national development goals. In flood-prone areas lacking basic services, this creates serious health risks. Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities remains critically limited in these communities.
Since 2001, South Africa’s Free Basic Services policy has mandated that municipalities provide limited amounts of clean water, electricity, sanitation, drainage, and solid waste removal at no cost to all citizens. The goal: deliver infrastructure that meets the basic needs of poor urban and rural communities.
Informal settlement residents often request that local authorities upgrade services where they currently live, especially since these settlements are typically close to established neighborhoods. However, the rapid growth and spatial layout of informal settlements make it difficult to retrofit conventional engineering systems.
Resource efficiency and security must become priorities to enable sustainable municipal infrastructure and service support.
At MEB, we believe that managing water and wastewater equitably will drive economic development through timely upgrades of basic services and the implementation of decentralized projects for informal settlements.
