The presence of an organisation such as the WRC is increasingly vital as South Africa faces the growing challenges of water scarcity and recognises the central role that water plays in the country’s economic and human development.
Lack of water and sanitation services exacerbates inequity, equality, social injustice and its poor management heightens economic, social and environmental deterioration.
While South Africa is rich in many natural resources, as a semi-arid country, water is one of its most limited, and finite developmental resources, compelling the country to invest in resilient water and sanitation infrastructure and technologies. (WRC Strategy, 2025–2030).
The WRC approved strategy aims to contribute to five (5) strategic outcomes, one of which is an innovative water sector. An innovative water sector embraces cutting-edge technologies, forward-thinking policies, and collaborative practices to address modern challenges in water resource management, distribution, use and disposal or reuse.
South Africa, as a water-scarce country, is facing systemic risks driven by poor governance in some parts of the country, climate change, ageing infrastructure, high non-revenue water, and persistent service delivery backlogs. National policy identifies water demand management, alternative water sources, and innovation as essential to achieving long-term water security.
The National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NW&SMP) explicitly prioritises research, development and innovation (RDI) to avoid a projected national water deficit and to enable resilient, fit-for-purpose water services. The DSTI Decadal Plan sets circular economy and sustainable human settlements as directionality markers for the country.Â
WRC research across the value chain has highlighted specific strategic areas of concern. Furthermore, the WRC, through its stakeholder-centric approach, is continuing to engage on research and innovation priority areas. The WRC has identified seven (7) key challenges for which innovations are generated to solve or improve the current state, or prepare the country and the sector for the future state.
| Â | Water Sector Challenges in South Africa | Contribution to Expected Outcomes in the country |
| 1 | Failing water service delivery (poor W&S services) | Reliable Water and Sanitation services |
| 2 | Inefficient water use across all sectors | Efficient water uses across all sectors |
| 3 | Poor resilience to global changes (climate, water-energy-food-environment nexus points, urbanization, geopolitics and economics) | Improved resilience to Global change |
| 4 | Weaknesses in the institutional landscape and governance | Strengthen governance in W&S sector |
| 5 | Slow digital transition in the water sector | A digitally transformed Water Sector |
| 6 | Deteriorating Water Resources (Quantity and Quality) | Improvement in the state of Water Resources |
| 7 | Neglecting emerging and fundamental RDI | Strengthened emerging and fundamental RDI |
Water sector innovation can assist South Africa to shift from crisis mode towards proactive management and preparedness. When innovation is linked to efficiency, treatment, circularity, sustainability, smart agriculture, climate mitigation and resilience, governance reform, finance, capacity building, and community participation, it can improve service delivery, productivity, reduce losses, strengthen resilience, and restore trust in water institutions. It enables the country to make every drop count, create value for paying water customers, protect vulnerable and marginalised communities, unlock investment, support economic development, and build a more reliable, equitable, and climate-resilient water future. Innovation remains fragmented, pilot-heavy, and slow to commercialise. The WRC RDI strategy is cognizant of the valley of death for RDI. These gaps exists because water and sanitation technologies are often deployed in complex public service environments where failure carries social, environmental and political risk and municipalities may therefore prefer established solutions.Â
Innovators often lack access to demonstration sites, credible performance data and reference customers.
Procurement systems are not always designed to support innovation, especially where specifications favour existing products with established and efficient supply chains or lowest-cost purchasing. Fourth, regulatory approval, standards, intellectual property management and certification can be slow or unclear or non-existent. Finally, early-stage innovators frequently face a funding mismatch since research grants support concept development, while commercial finance usually requires proven customers and revenue.
Thus, WRC acknowledges that it requires an integrated innovation pipeline that connects researchers, municipalities, regulators, financiers, private companies, communities and implementation partners. Demonstration and accelerator platforms such as the Water Technologies Demonstration Programme (WADER) and South African Sanitation Technology Enterprise Programme (SASTEP) are important because they create agile and structured spaces for testing, validation, matchmaking and uptake. These mechanisms help reduce perceived risk, generate evidence for decision-makers, and support innovators to refine technologies for real operating conditions. Its allows for a continuous dialogue, learning and unlearning with policymakers and public sector to drive sustainable behaviours and solutions using a joint ecosystem learning approach which draws from transformative innovation policy frameworks.
