Households in these five districts are reliant on boreholes instead of taps. And if you think that’s bad‚ let us tell you about the city where toilets are in such short supply‚ residents practise what is politely called “open defecation“.

While government has improved the rollout of basic services across the country‚ there are pockets where water and sanitation remain a problem.

Households who still rely on ground water as a source of drinking water are living in:

- the OR Tambo district incorporating Mthatha as well as Lusikisiki‚ Port St Johns and Tsolo (49%)‚

- Alfred Nzo‚ also in the Eastern Cape with its main seat being Mount Ayliff (46%)‚

- Zululand (24%)‚

- Sisonke in the Drakensberg incorporating Ixopo‚ Bulwer‚ Himeville and Underberg (23%)‚ and

- UMkhanyakude‚ a district in the north-eastern part of KwaZulu-Natal‚ extending from the uMfolozi River up to the Mozambique border‚ bordered by the Isimangaliso Wetlands Parks (20%).

This is according to Statistics South Africa‚ which compiled a Water and Sanitation analysis of the General Household Survey‚ 2005-2015‚ and Community Survey 2016 data report.

Nationally‚ the percentage of households with access to municipal water increased from 84% to 86%‚ but the proportion of households who reported interruptions over the 12 months before the survey increased from 23‚1% to 25‚4% between 2009 and 2015.

The percentage of households with access to improved sanitation facilities increased from 62‚3% in 2002 to 80% in 2015. Many households in Western Cape (93‚3%) and Gauteng (91%) had access to improved sanitation facilities‚ against about half those in Limpopo (54%) and just below two thirds of those in Mpumalanga (65‚8%).

The metros with the highest percentage of households with access to improved sanitation facilities were the City of Johannesburg (96‚9%)‚ Nelson Mandela Bay (94‚6%) and the City of Cape Town (91‚8%). The metros with the lowest percentages of households with access to improved sanitation facilities were the City of Tshwane (82%) and eThekwini (83‚5%).

Despite these strides‚ nationally‚ 1‚2% of households reported using the bucket toilet system.

As many as 6‚8% of households living in informal dwellings reported using the bucket toilet system.

And 4% of households still practised open defecation — where they had no access to toilet facilities. These percentages were even higher for households living in traditional dwellings (12‚1%) and informal dwellings (10‚3%).

The highest percentages of households who practised open defecation was reported in Buffalo City (4‚1%)‚ eThekwini (2‚6%)‚ Mangaung (2‚2%) and Nelson Mandela Bay (2‚2%). These percentages were more than the metro average of 1‚6%.

“A statistically significant correlation was found between open defecation and diarrhoeal diseases as underlying causes of deaths at District Council level‚” StatsSA said.

The data agency expressed hope that its research could feed into government planning.

“The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient‚ safe‚ physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses. Infectious diarrhoea and other serious waterborne illnesses are leading causes of infant mortality and malnutrition.”

Noting that sanitation makes a key contribution to public health‚ particularly in densely populated areas‚ Stats SA said: “Adequate sanitation reduces the risk of a broad range of diseases – including respiratory ailments‚ malaria‚ and diarrhoea – and reduces the prevalence of malnutrition. Access to this standard of sanitation produces direct health gains by preventing disease and delivering economic and social benefits.”