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Misgund, a small rural community in the Langkloof region of the Eastern Cape, struggles with an unreliable water supply. Residents receive water for only an hour or two a day, sometimes going days without it. The settlement, home to about 500 households, mainly RDP homes, has been dealing with water issues since 2011. At Twinkle Twinkle Daycare, staff store water in containers for children and use buckets to flush toilets when the taps run dry.

Water is needed for drinking, preparing food, washing hands, and flushing toilets. The water that does come through is often brown and has an unpleasant taste. Residents have raised their concerns with the Kou-Kamma Local Municipality, but promises of improvement have proven empty. The water quality data shows that over the past year, water tested in Misgund met microbiological standards only 50% of the time, and had zero aesthetic and disinfectant compliance.