Does South Africa need business to partner with government to manage and conserve water? Prof Nick Segal of the Gordon Institute of Business Science says to avert a water crisis in the future, business will need to engage with the state, and political leadership  will need to "face up honestly to the weaknesses in implementation capacity".

If we had a crisis we would be talking about an outbreak of diseases, but we don't want to get there and we won't get there",  is Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica's response to the Blue Drop Report.  This report  indicated that only 7% of water treatment works in South Africa are compliant with criteria determined for E.coli bacteria, nitrates and phosphates. 

"When everybody is sick; that would be a crisis," said Sonjica .

The Blue Scorpions have determined that water samples at Grootvlei Mine in Springs show the sulphate levels from the mine outlet exceeded the recommended operational limits.  The report by the Blue Scorpions indicates that  contaminated water is being pumped out of the mine shaft into a purification plant and being discharged into the Blesbokspruit untreated.

Residents in Fourways were outraged when they discovered that Johannesburg City Parks has sold a centrally located park to developers.

The Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE), the National Water Forum and the National Taxpayers Union have called the water crisis in South Africa a "time bomb".