Midrand residents took to the street on Tuesday to protest against a six-day water outage. (Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee) 
“It’s terrible. I’ve got elderly parents. They’re both in their late eighties. How do I clean them? How do I wash them?” asked Abby Artico from Midrand, who joined dozens of residents on Tuesday to protest against an ongoing water outage.
Midrand is one of several suburbs in Johannesburg’s northernmost administrative area that have been without water for almost six days. The area frequently experiences long water outages.
Artico says Rand Water, the City’s bulk water supplier, has been making “excuses” and has not communicated clearly when water will be restored.
Collecting water from tankers is impossible without a vehicle, she said. She has to rely on friends and neighbours to help her.
The current outage was caused by the explosion of a motor connected to one of the pumps at the Zuikerbosch Water Treatment Plant on Tuesday, 27 January 2026. This was repaired a few days later. However, a leak was then discovered at the Klipfontein Reservoir inlet, which extended the outage further.
/file/attachments/2987/GroundUp-water-protestinset1_621013.jpeg "Water tankers fill up at a fire hydrant in Midrand. A Joburg Water official on site told GroundUp that there were not enough water trucks to supply the whole area. (Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee)")
On Tuesday afternoon, Rand Water said that although “systems have fully recovered and pumping is at full capacity”, Midrand’s water supply is yet to recover.
“The Midrand area has a long-standing problem of high-water consumption exacerbated by growth of both formal and informal settlements,” it said.
Ward councillor Lerato Mphefo lamented the lack of communication from water authorities (Joburg Water and Rand Water).
She said water tankers were unreliable and often inadequate to meet demand. People would arrive at locations where the trucks were supposed to be, only to find no water available, she said.
Ferrial Adam, from the civil society water advocacy organisation WaterCAN, said the outages in Midrand are linked to the broader underinvestment by national and municipal governments in building and maintaining water infrastructure.
/file/attachments/2987/GroundUp-water-protestinset2_515149.jpeg "Residents in Midrand collect water from an illegally opened fire hydrant. Water trucks are difficult to find, they say. (Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee)")
Adam, who helped to organise a water protest outside the Johannesburg Council in 2025, said that various civil society groups met Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero last week. The mayor and officials from Joburg Water agreed to hold regular engagements with stakeholders, she said.
She hopes these engagements can be used to track progress on issues affecting water delivery to Johannesburg residents. WaterCAN wants daily public briefings by Rand Water and Joburg Water, with clear timelines, plain language and explanations.
First published by GroundUp.