‘It’s going be a tough summer,’ warns expert after more water cuts in Joburg

This week, Johannesburg Water reported water outages or low pressure in parts of the city that were affected by supply issues at the Parktown 2, Dunkeld, Berea and Chloorkop reservoirs and the South Hills Tower. 

The situation has largely been blamed on high levels of water usage. 

Households, businesses and even hospitals were affected. The Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital suffered low water pressure on Monday, which affected surgeries and other medical procedures. The water pressure at the hospital was restored to normal on Tuesday afternoon. 

A large swathe of northern Johannesburg suburbs suffered water cuts on Tuesday, while some areas had been affected for days. The water supply improved in many of these areas on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

Philemon Twala, a Kensington resident who said he had not had water for almost a week, told Daily Maverick on Wednesday that the water pressure had improved.

“Our water has consistently been on and off — completely unreliable. If you turn on the taps now, you will realise that the water pressure is low,” said Twala. 

“It’s clear there is a huge menacing challenge — whether it’s lack of maintenance catching up with us — but something is seriously wrong.”  

While some areas faced temporary water cuts this week, others were suffering from long-term outages.

“We haven’t had regular water supply for more than a year,’’ Nhlanhla Hlongwane (55) from Protea in Soweto told Daily Maverick on Tuesday.

Hlongwane said when tankers failed to supply water, he and some of his neighbours were unable to cook or bath.

Hlongwane was fetching water for his family from the tap of one of his neighbours who still had water. Water tankers hadn’t visited the area in days and the supply from his neighbour’s tap turned into a trickle as he spoke.

“Maintenance is the problem here,’’ said Hlongwane. 

Consumption exceeds supply

Water experts said it was common for Johannesburg’s water system to come under strain at this time of year as temperatures rose.

“This is what we would experience from September and October as it starts heating up,” said WaterCAN CEO Dr Ferrial Adam. 

WaterCAN is a civil society initiative of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse.

The bulk supplier, Rand Water, told Daily Maverick it had a water consumption agreement with Gauteng’s three metros: Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

Consumption in the metros regularly exceeds the agreed volume of water they are supposed to take from Rand Water. 

“Rand Water engages the three metros to find a solution to the high consumption. As a result, Rand Water meets with the three metros daily to discuss consumption and solutions,” said Rand Water spokesperson Makenosi Maroo.

Rand Water has said that it will be able to increase supply to Gauteng’s metros only after the completion of Phase Two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, expected in 2028. However, experts have warned that unless municipalities fix their ageing infrastructure, additional supply won’t help.

Read more: Lesotho Highlands Water Project won’t fix Gauteng’s infrastructure and supply woes, experts warn

While consumption exceeds supply from Rand Water, Johannesburg Water has been cutting off supply from some reservoirs overnight to build capacity for the daytime. 

“In Kensington, which is supplied by the Alex Park Reservoir, Johannesburg Water said there is a very high demand and very high losses at the same time,” said Adam. 

“If they do not close them, the reservoirs become empty and they are unable to fill up during the day.

“I think what we need to say is, in conjunction with the high demand, there is a high number of leaks. If you read between the lines, [that] is what they are saying.’’

‘Non-billable water’

More than 40% of the City of Johannesburg’s water is classified as “non-revenue water”, meaning that it’s lost because of leaks or non-billing.

Several informal settlements in Johannesburg have no water sources, but residents have access to water through various means, the most common being illegal connections to the closest water supply.

“I do not think that water is billed,” said Adam, “and that is why in many parts of Gauteng, in the metros, the non-revenue water that we talk about sits at about 47%.

“A big chunk of that is the non-billable water. But the other part is that businesses, government buildings are not paying. So, it’s not just informal settlements that are not paying. The non-billable water is a range of people.

“The other thing that is happening is that there are illegal connections to reservoirs, which then has an impact on the flow to people as a whole. 

“We know that in Tshwane, when the municipality tried to disconnect people from the reservoir, the municipality was chased away by armed people. So, it is a challenge and it goes into the issue of billing.”

Water restrictions

At a recent water imbizo in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, Rand Water chief executive Sipho Mosai said that to avoid water shortages in Gauteng, Rand Water had implemented Level 1 restrictions.

He called for Level 1 restrictions to be imposed in the province until March 2025.

In terms of Level 1 restrictions, the watering of gardens is prohibited between 6am and 6pm. Mosai said residents were no longer permitted to use hosepipes to wash paved areas and driveways.

Read more: As Rand Water warns of wider system collapse, Soweto and Johannesburg taps still dry

Adam said: “It’s not enough that the government is implementing restrictions, they need to enforce those restrictions and laws.”

Adam said better planning was required. 

“National intervention is required to ringfence money for water and sanitation and [must] be spent appropriately. The fact that in this year, the city gave millions back to Treasury is unacceptable when our infrastructure is falling apart. 

“It’s going be a tough summer, I think, in terms of access to water.” DM