Water Supply and Requirements of Households in the Luvuvhu-Letaba Water Management Area of South Africa
Khathutshelo A. Tshikolomo, Azwihangwisi E. Nesamvuni, Aldo Stroebel, Sue Walker

Abstract
The purpose of the study was to characterize households in Luvuvhu-Letaba Water Management Area and to investigate the adequacy of their water supply. Respondents from 467 households in three municipalities in the area were interviewed. Most (34.8%) heads of household were 36-50 years old. Some 41.1% of households earned R0-R1000 while 40.4% earned R1001-R5000 monthly. Half (50.1%) of households obtained water from street taps. Some 46.7% of them, mostly elderly families resided < 1 km from water sources. Households used water mostly for basic activities of drinking (95.9%), preparing food (95.4%) and bathing (92.8%) with fewer using it for productive activities of washing cars (6.6%) and watering crops (5.7%). Half (51.7%) of the households had < the 25 litres per capita per day supply standard while requirement was 37.5 litres per capita per day. The households had inadequate water supply.

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