The National Water and Sanitation Programme in South Africa: Turning the ?Right to Water? into Reality

South Africa is one of the few countries in the world that formally recognise water as a human right. Its national water and sanitation programme, which is one of the largest national programmes in Africa, aims to deliver sustainably on that right. Both the recognition of water as a human right and the development of the national water and sanitation programme derive from the advent, in 1994, of South Africa's democratic era. At that time the country faced immense challenges relating to water supply and sanitation. The government and its development partners have been determined to tackle those problems and to achieve major progress in water and sanitation as quickly as possible.