{"id":81923,"date":"2026-03-04T16:32:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T15:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=81923"},"modified":"2026-03-04T18:50:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T17:50:46","slug":"south-africa-water-crisis-after-historic-floods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/story\/81923\/south-africa-water-crisis-after-historic-floods\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa: Making sense of a water crisis after historic floods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The City of Johannesburg, South Africa\u2019s economic capital and most densely populated city, is experiencing a water shortage which has seen residents bathing in public in protest<\/a>. The only thing more ludicrous than the lengths fellow citizens have had to go to try and resolve the matter is the Marie Antoinette-esque response<\/a> from officials who say that they too are impacted by this shortage, and have even had to \u201cgo to a certain hotel <\/em>to bathe\u201d to navigate the situation.<\/p>\n\n

Some of our city\u2019s suburbs have experienced disruptions to domestic water supply for weeks at a time, and city officials warn of even worse times ahead<\/a>. It is hard to imagine that taps are running dry in the country when just a month ago, the region experienced one of the worst floods in its recorded history<\/a>. So this isn\u2019t simply about \u201crunning out of water.\u201d It\u2019s about climate stress meeting weak systems and the most vulnerable communities paying the price.<\/p>\n