Joburg’s water infrastructure – a picture of decline and underinvestment

Johannesburg has 98 water reservoirs. Twenty-one are in urgent need of repair. Almost half the water Joburg buys from Rand Water is lost through leaks and illegal connections because much of the 12,364km of distribution pipes providing water across the city need replacing. In the last financial year, the city managed to replace only 17km of pipe.

For the financial year starting 1 July 2025, Joburg reported 13,331 leaks, of which 8,303 had been repaired, leaving a backlog of 5,028, according to the Gauteng Water Security dashboard.

As of August, 2,419.5km of water pipelines were surveyed, and 616 burst pipes, 2,055 leaking meters, 105 leaking valves and 59 leaking hydrants have been repaired, Johannesburg Water reported this week.

In August this year, Johannesburg Water replaced 446 stolen water meters. While theft and vandalism add to the financial burden faced by Johannesburg Water, they also take workers away from needed major repairs.

Over the past 15 years, investment in infrastructure replacement has declined rapidly. Johannesburg Water needs more than R27-billion to repair and upgrade its infrastructure. The current financial year’s budget is R1.7-billion.

While the violent protests in Coronationville and Westbury last week shone the spotlight on the fragility of the Commando system, the rest of the city’s water systems are not in much better shape.

In the east, Kensington, Bez Valley, Berea and Bruma have dealt with significant water outages over the past month (see sidebar). Interventions by the city to mitigate the water crisis so far have only meant more water tankers to the affected areas. The Commando system’s upgrade – which includes a new water tower and reservoir in Brixton – is expected to start coming online from October this year, but will be completed only by the end of next year.

Already, the Brixton project has been bedevilled by non-payment of contractors and is four months behind schedule. The Commando upgrades will cost in excess of R600-million, taking a chunk out of the already constrained infrastructure budget.

The leaking reservoirs waiting to be fixed

The leaking reservoirs are a perfect illustration of the city’s crisis. Six of the projects were started in the 2021/22 financial year, yet none has been completed. These include:

• The Jabulani reservoir needs sealing, a new bypass and inlet. Repairs will start in November 2025.
• The Aeroton reservoir needs new pipework, repair to the concrete and resealed floor joints. According to Johannesburg Water, the inception phase is complete, a detailed design report was completed in June last year, and work will start in October 2025.
• Power Park reservoir – leaking valves and pipes need replacing. The design report has been approved, and work starts in October 2025.
• Hurst Hill 2 (part of the Commando system) needs structural leaks in the concrete walls sealed. Work starts in September 2025.

Projects started in the 22/23 financial year include:

• Zondi reservoir – needs a leaking bypass replaced before the reservoir is cleaned. No progress.
• Ennerdale 2 reservoir – needs new inlet pipework and the resealing of floor joints. Work to start in November 2025.

Projects for the 23/24 financial year:

•  Blairgowrie reservoir needs resealing of the joints and roof. Work starts in May 2026.
• Linden 1 reservoir needs rehabilitation of the water tower and resealing of the floor joints. Work starts in November 2025.
• Fairlands reservoir – a leaking bypass has to be replaced. No progress.
• Glenvista reservoir – needs joints resealed. No progress.
• President Park 2 reservoir – the reservoir leaks and has to be resealed. No progress.

Johannesburg Water also announced this week that work on the Meadowlands, Dunkeld, Yeoville 3, Marlboro, Helderkruin, Alexander Park, Hurst Hill 1, Crown Gardens, Modderhill, Cosmos, Berea, Yeoville 1 and 2, Rabie Ridge and Chiawelo reservoirs will start in November this year or May next year.

A plan to change, yet little has come of it

In August 2024, the City of Johannesburg approved a turnaround strategy for Johannesburg Water. This ambitious plan set out five key areas for the entity to concentrate on, including better financial management, better customer service, ramping up investment into infrastructure and ensuring the entity has the proper technical skills to do its job.

The strategy called for an increased annual capital investment from R1-billion in 2023/24 to R2-billion in 2024/25 and R3-billion in 2025/26, with further increases after that. This has not happened. The 25/26 budget is R1.7-billion.

The only tangible implementation of the turnaround strategy is the announcement that Johannesburg Water has taken over its billing function from the City of Johannesburg. This means that Johannesburg Water will be responsible for the water and sanitation billing on the monthly rates and services bill. Johannesburg Water’s MD Ntshavheni Mukwevho said this was done to improve service delivery, enhance operational efficiency and improve accuracy in billing.

Is the solution to the Joburg water crisis equitable water for all?

Water expert Professor Mike Muller has been sounding the alarm over the state of Joburg’s water for the past 15 years. Given the growing problems, he is now emphasising the need to look at water usage and apply tougher restrictions to ensure an equitable supply for all the city’s residents.

“It’s increasingly obvious that there’s a desire to pretend that the current water problems can be talked away. The reality is that they are going to get worse unless the system is more actively managed.

“Active management doesn’t mean more throttling of valves and redistributing water from one suburb to another. It’s about actively managing the use of water by telling people how much they can use and imposing consequences (higher tariffs for a start) if they don’t.

“We restrict use when there’s a natural climatic drought, so why not when there’s a people-made drought (which is what we currently have)?” he says.

Muller says the water issues in Joburg will only get worse as the weather gets warmer and more water is used.

Muller argues that it is not good enough for some in the city to carry on as normal because they have regular water supplies.

“There is not enough water to go around, but only some people suffer the consequences. I am afraid that if we don’t recognise that we are all going to have to limit our water use (particularly those with an uninterrupted supply), we are not going to get water to everyone.

“Yes, the infrastructure is failing and needs replacement, but we can’t replace all the pipes overnight. Meanwhile, the system will get worse unless carefully managed. The network cannot cope with constant switching on and off, and fixing a new leak often provokes more leaks.

“Radical action – in the form of restricting water to everybody – is needed. Cape Town showed us how to do it by establishing water limits and implementing penalty tariffs for those who exceeded the limits. Consumption dropped by 50%,” he says.

“I am not hearing that language from Joburg yet, and what happened in Coronationville will be repeated if we don’t look at proper water restrictions.”

The Joburg Crisis Alliance, after executive mayor Dada Morero’s pledge during the water protests last week of restoring water to the affected communities by the end of seven days, says it intends to hold him accountable and is demanding his resignation if the promise is not fulfilled.

In a statement on Friday, the Joburg Crisis Alliance said: “The Mayor’s seven-day promise to restore water to Claremont, Westbury, and Coronationville has expired – yet taps are still dry. Worse still, the Mayor admitted that R4-billion was diverted from Johannesburg Water’s budget. This is not only reckless but potentially criminal. The so-called “emergency allocation” for high-rise pipes offers too little, too late.

“As the city prepares to host G20 dignitaries, its own citizens suffer without basic services. The silence from the Presidency is equally unacceptable,” the Joburg Crisis Alliance said.

The Joburg Crisis Alliance is now demanding the resignation of the mayor and the MMC for water, councillor Jack Sekwaila; a forensic probe into the diverted billions; and direct national intervention to protect residents.

DM

Source: Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) report Water Security Perspective for the Gauteng City-Region 2019.

 These stories are produced by Our City News, a non-profit newsroom that serves the people of Johannesburg.