Dry tap reality: The growing water infrastructure crisis in SA

Access to clean and reliable water is a constitutionally enshrined human right, but an increasingly bleak picture of the trusteeship of the nation’s most precious life-giving natural resource has been emerging all over South Africa for many years.

Although access to piped water in South Africa has seen a commendable increase –from 73.4% in 2011 to 82.4% in 2022 – this national average masks a deepening crisis of reliability and failing infrastructure. The data from numerous reports and the experiences of South Africa’s most ­vulnerable communities reveals a stark
“dry tap reality” in which having a pipe in your yard does not guarantee water flowing from it.

Moreover, the quality of the country’s water is declining rapidly. Reams of reports are sounding the alarm on systems on the brink of collapse.

Limpopo

Limpopo has the lowest water access rate in South Africa at 69%, leaving more than 2.1 million residents without basic access. Even for those who do have access, service is often dysfunctional.

In 2024, ahead of the highly contested local government elections, Daily Maverick visited several villages that line the 20km D3810 dirt road in the Greater Giyani Local Municipality in Limpopo. In many of the ­villages, including Mahlathi, Ndindani and Gawula, residents were witnessed congregating next to burst pipes and communal taps with the 20-litre containers they use to collect water.

As if suspended in time, the situation in those villages has not changed, almost two years later.

“They have made many promises, but they have not fixed anything. When there is water on one side of the village, there is no water on the other side. Sometimes we can go almost a month with no tap water,” said Themba, a taxi driver from Mahlathi, when Daily ­Maverick visited in February.

At the time of this visit, there was no water running from the taps in residents’ yards in Mahlathi. Tinswalo Tshabalala had water she had collected a week before, but because it had a rusty red hue and foul smell, she suspected it was contaminated.

“I use the water because I have no other choice. I used it to bathe and wash dishes because we don’t have any water,” she said.

The issue has now been resolved, but Tshabalala said it was only a matter of
time before another water-related problem arose again.

North West

In a 2025 investigative report on North West, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) found that widespread and systemic water service failures plague the entire province, with communities in all four districts reporting prolonged water shortages and unreliable or unsafe supplies.

The latest census found that although almost 90% of the province’s population had access to water infrastructure, either in their yards or communally, about 65.8% of them regularly experienced interruptions.

In the same year, Makwassie, a small township in the Maquassi Hills Local Municipality, made headlines when it was revealed that residents were turning to manholes for access to water.

Since then the municipality has been deploying water tankers as a temporary fix, but not as frequently as residents need.

“It’s been years since I opened my tap and water has actually come out,” lifelong Makwassie resident Noluvuyo Lolwane told Daily Maverick moments after she had collected water from a roving water tanker.

For Tumelo Mlambo, the daily slog to ­collect water is compounded by living with a disability and being wheelchair-bound.

“When the water tanker comes, it parks far away from my house. The [ground is not] paved, so it is hard to push my wheelchair to where the tanker usually stops,” he said.

Mlambo told Daily Maverick that he relies on his sister to collect water for him, but on many days she comes home empty handed.

“Sometimes the water in the tankers runs out before we even have enough time to collect it,” he said.

KwaZulu-Natal

Sam Guma lives just 5km from one of the largest dams in the province, Inanda Dam near Durban, but no water has flowed from the taps in his home for more than a year.

Instead, he or his family members join the queue in the Umzinyathi section of Inanda every Friday to collect water from motorised water tankers. They fill a 25-litre plastic container and push it home by wheelbarrow.

Nearby, at Inanda Glebe, residents report similar problems. Nkosinathi Mhlongo says water supply in this area has been erratic since 2015.

“It comes and it goes for us. Luckily, the taps started working again last week, but earlier this year we had no water for over two months. We rely on water tankers, when they come, or collect it ourselves from friends or from community JoJo tanks in other parts of Inanda.”

Besides access, water quality is also a problem in KwaZulu-Natal. The last full Blue Drop report, published in 2023, recorded high scores for the major cities, declining in several rural areas.

For example, the Blue Drop scores were 94.95% in Durban, 97.94% in Pietermaritzburg, 87% in the iLembe-Ballito area, 83.7% in the Richards Bay area and 84% in Newcastle. But the score de­clined to 57% in the Ugu ­District Municipality on the South Coast and was down to just 32% in Umzinyathi in the Ladysmith area.

In the Umzinyathi district, several small towns such as Isandlwana, Greytown, Pomeroy and Muden scored just 15%.

In its latest annual report, the uMngeni-uThukela Water board notes that several of its waterworks are operating above their design capacity to meet the growing demand.

The quality of raw water in large dams was also declining because of pollution and nutrient problems in feeder rivers. Notably, uMngeni-uThukela Water used more than 14 million kilograms of chemicals in 2025, which was flagged as a significant increase on the previous year and was likely due to the larger volumes of “suboptimal” water in major storage dams.

Mpumalanga

In a small Mpumalanga coal-mining town near Ermelo, principal Paul de Villiers was on the point of closing Breyten Primary School about 18 months ago because there was no longer enough water to flush the toilets used by more than 600 children.

“I told the staff that if we could not find a solution, we would have to close. So, we issued an appeal to donors in the community, and luckily local GP Dr Haroon Dindar generously agreed to finance a borehole for us. Now we are completely self-sufficient with water.”

Zodwa, a resident of the nearby KwaZanele township who did not wish to provide her surname because of an unresolved utility dispute with the Msukaligwa Local Municipality, says water supply has been erratic for more than two years.

“Right now I have water – but not every day. Over the last year there have been times when there has been no water for up to three months. At other times it’s cut off for two days,” she said.

According to the last full Blue Drop report in 2023, eight municipalities in Mpumalanga scored less than 31% and were rated in a “high or critical risk position”, posing a serious risk to public health.

Eastern Cape

In the Eastern Cape, only 76% of residents have access to basic water services. The province faces significant reliability issues, with 59.2% of households reporting interruptions. Although access improved between 2002 and 2012, it has declined by 9.3 percentage points since then because of failing systems.

Until recently, Middelburg was a town in crisis, as parts of the surrounding townships had been without reliable running water since 2021. The situation was so dire that the SAHRC conducted its own investigation into the Chris Hani District Municipality’s wa­­ter management systems. This was followed by mass protests by the affected residents.

Ward 7 councillor Richard Jacobus said that after a series of meetings with municipal officials and representatives of the SAHRC, water supply to the affected parts of Middelburg was restored earlier this month.

“There was no clear explanation of what was done or how they managed to restore water after so many years, but for the moment the taps are running and the community is happy. We don’t know why it took so long, or how long the water will last this time, but we will take what we can get.”

Western Cape

In the Western Cape, water problems have been compounded by several issues, including water leaks and poor infrastructure. The MEC for local government, environmental affairs and development planning, Anton Bredell, has now urged municipalities to put aside money in budgets not only for water planning, but for emergencies too.

The province’s water problems were highlighted in December when key tourist areas were close to running out of water. This is largely due to water leaks, infrastructure problems and infrastructure that has not kept up with increased populations.

But for others, such as the Matzikama Municipality, the water shortages and water problems are a historic issue.

The risks of running out of water come at a time when the provincial government has issued a warning: with below-average ­winter rainfall experienced in 2025 and similar predictions for the next winter, action is needed to mitigate a drought, according to Bredell.

In his 2026 budget vote, Bredell said: “If we look at the earmarked funding in this 2026 budget, R64-million is allocated towards water security, energy security and rescue capacity.” “Water resilience activities” are funded with R42-million in 2026/27.

But the reality in communities is different. In places such as Vanrhynsdorp, water from taps is discoloured. It resembles the colour of urine in some places. In other places, farmers are struggling. For some mu­nicipalities such as George, however, work has been under way to maintain and upgrade water supply infrastructure.

Northern Cape

As the Northern Cape government allocates funds to combat a continuing drought, more and more communities are being affected by a lack of water.

Human rights interventions and petitions are among the demands by political parties and organisations amid what they describe as a worsening water situation in the province. Meanwhile, the provincial government is investing almost R1-billion in the water and sanitation sector.

The problems in the country’s driest province are not new. During his provincial address in February, premier Zamani Saul said: “The aftermath of the 2024 summer rainfall deficit, compounded by below-­average early winter rainfall in 2025, has led to a rapid decline in vegetation conditions, particularly in the Namakwa district and parts of the ZF Mgcawu district.

“The drought, particularly here in the Namakwa district and the ZF Mgcawu district, has been classified as a disaster affecting our province… As a government, we are making concerted efforts to address water and sanitation infrastructure. Since 2016, there has been an investment of more than R4-billion in the province in relation to water and sanitation, which can be broken down into water at over R3-billion and sanitation at over half a billion,” he said.

For weeks, several organisations raised the alarm over the crisis. In February, civil organisation AfriForum called for intervention from the SAHRC after six towns experienced dry taps: De Aar, Loxton, Vaalharts, Delportshoop, Kakamas and Keimoes.

Gauteng

Gauteng’s water crisis is driven by ageing infrastructure and a lack of investment in water infrastructure to match the province’s rapid population growth.

A weekly consumption chart published by Rand Water shows that in the week ending 6 April, the three Gauteng metros – Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane – all consumed 3,689 megalitres of water per day. This is higher than the temporarily adjusted allocation of 3,602 megalitres per day and far higher than the permanent allocation of 3,045 megalitres per day.

The latest figures from the Department of Water and Sanitation indicate that the dams serving Gauteng are all above 100% capacity. The Integrated Vaal River System is also a key supplier of water, providing 46% of the country’s economy and 33% of the population with water.

As of 1 April, the system was at 102.5% capacity. The Lesotho Highlands Water Project will increase this capacity when its phase 2 is complete, which is expected to be done in 2028/29.

A report by Our City News shows that the embattled entity repaired 4,336 burst pipes a month in the 2024/25 financial year – up from 2,960 pipes per month repaired in the previous year.

This translates to roughly 144 burst pipes per day across the city.

Hammanskraal, located within the City of Tshwane municipality, has faced a 20-year-long critical shortage of clean drinking water and an overreliance on water tankers.

Testing by organisations such as the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse found in 2019 that the water was unfit for human consumption because of sewage contamination. The City of Tshwane announced in 2025 that clean water was now available to Hammanskraal residents. However, Hammanskraal residents still complain about the lack of clean water.

Gauteng also has the highest volume of wastewater treated in South Africa. The 2025 Green Drop report identified 23 wastewater treatment systems as being in “critical state”, most of which were in the City of Tshwane.

The report shows rapid deterioration of wastewater treatment systems, particularly in the City of Johannesburg, which has gone from a score of 91% in 2011, placing it in the “excellent” category, to its most recent score of 48.8%, placing it in the “poor performance” category.

Political and financial accountability

In 2025, the Auditor-General revealed that the City of Johannesburg had diverted more than R4-billion from Johannesburg Water.

There have also been credible reports of water tanker mafias operating in Gauteng’s metros. In 2024, an investigation by amaBhungane revealed that two little-­known companies had been awarded a R263-million tender to supply water tankers in Johannesburg.

An article published by the Sunday Times on 12 April said the City of Tshwane awarded a R95-million tender to an obscure company that does not have its own tankers and appears to be run by a sole director living in an RDP house in Soshanguve. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.