Water security
The importance of water security in South Africa and across the globe cannot be underestimated, or overstated. Without water, our world simply dries up, leaving the human race, and the planet’s inhabitants, without its life-sustaining and enabling force. Securing the water supply at a municipal level in South Africa has proven difficult over the past few decades, with rapid urbanisation putting unplanned for pressure on infrastructure, and concerns around rural development growing as water scarcity creates unique water delivery and safety problems.
South African municipalities
Municipalities have long acknowledged the need to collaborate with water tank suppliers, to secure delivery of water to their communities, empower communities towards water conservation, and ensure a safe, clean supply of drinking water to South African citizens. By collaborating with private providers of water tanks, South African municipalities have reaped the benefits of several public-private partnerships, that have enabled water security for communities affected by drought, or resource-poor environments.
A flexible approach
Each municipal scenario and community environment in South Africa is distinctively different, making a flexible water supply solution an imperative for South African municipalities. While particular rural areas battle with ensuring water security due to incapacitated service delivery mechanisms, other regions are left without a reliable supply of water as a result of climate change-driven factors. Moreover, a one-size-fits-all approach cannot be applied to South African municipal scenarios, owing to the country’s exceptional range of landscapes, community concerns, and individual municipal programmes that intend to solve the issues related to water security.
Cost-effective municipal water supply solutions
With each municipality and community requiring a unique solution to ensure water security, SBS Tanks works closely with the sector, to better understand the distinctive requirements of each setting. Moreover, as landscape-related factors, including ground elevation, current infrastructure, and residential developments, need to be catered for, simply installing water tanks and hoping for the best would not do. Instead, full site assessments are conducted, leaning on expert advice, and past success stories, to create water supply solutions that work for everyone.
Incremental water supply solutions
SBS Water manufactures and installs modular water tank solutions, crafted using the patented Zincalume ® steel panels. Using steel panels to manufacture water tanks makes both water security and economic sense, as construction time is significantly decreased. Being able to build on to water supply solutions also enables an incremental approach to solving water supply concerns, especially where budgetary constraints must be catered for, or development needs to be rolled out in stages. Notable recent installations of an SBS Tanks-backed water supply solution include the Sol Plaatje District Municipality and Aliwal North, with both locations situated within the water-scarce province of the Northern Cape.
The SBS Tanks approach
As Managing Director, Delayne Gray, outlined in this interview with Infrastructure News, securing South Africa’s water supply at a municipal level is a core operational initiative for SBS Tanks:
“At SBS Tanks, we have a vision of seeing our tanks filled; working and delivering water to all communities in need of reliable stored water. Making that happen comes down to building lasting partnerships with our public and private sector stakeholders. For SBS, we are proud to say that we deliver in terms of local and international quality standards and specifications”
For more information on how SBS Tanks can help your community thrive, and ensure water security for everyone, get in touch with our SBS Tanks team.
© SBS Holdings 2026
