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In this article we analyse three sociotechnical devices that have been implemented to deal with water scarcity on the Crocodile River (South Africa): a resource re-allocation and redistribution process called “compulsory licensing”, a computerised real-time management model and the operationalisation of environmental flows on a monthly and even daily basis. Our analysis highlights the extent to which such sociotechnical devices, far from managing water resources from a purely technical perspective, actually perform as instruments governing water resources. In that respect, they have been able to neutralise specific regulatory provisions and public policy objectives that were at the heart of South Africa’s transformation agenda. In addition, we demonstrate that water scarcity does not represent a real fatality on the Crocodile River but largely stems from management decisions.