Johannesburg residents protest against the water crisis outside the City of Johannesburg Council Chamber on 1 November 2025 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Months later residents are still experiencing severe water problems. (Photo: Gallo Images / Fani Mahuntsi) A full 12 days after Rand Water carried out the first of its winter maintenance programmes, several suburbs in Johannesburg are still without water and despair is running high.
Coronationville, Westbury, Melville, Parktown West, Brixton, the high-lying areas of Vorna Valley and Halfway Gardens, Midrand, Kaalfontein, and many areas in Claremont, Park Central, Kensington and Hillbrow were still without water yesterday. At the Rahima Moosa Hospital in Coronationville, at least two tankers were refilling their water tanks before noon.
These are just a handful of comments residents posted this weekend:
“We are back to water in the mornings, just for about two hours then off again. What happened to the Mayor saying we will have water during the day and then off at night if the reservoirs are low. This is really inhumane, now we have to rely on water trucks that are also not consistent. I’m so tired of this,” said Vanessa in Coronationville.
“We have not had proper water in the last two weeks,” said Shanie from Coronationville.
“The struggle.... we can’t do anything.... not even fill the bath or do laundry,” said Fiekie.
“It’s so crazy to me that they try to convince us that it’s normal to not have water for two weeks during maintenance,” said Josephine in Melville.
/file/attachments/orphans/WaterMarshalltown-111_580197.jpeg "Residents collect water outside the One Eloff building in Marshalltown, Johannesburg. Residents have been without water for two months in the area. 06 October 2025. (Photo: OUR CITY NEWS / Alaister Russell)")
This lengthy water loss has prompted civil society’s WaterCAN to call for an urgent meeting with Johannesburg Water to conduct a public review of the recovery process and come up with a clear plan before the next maintenance programme in July.
“While maintenance is a necessary part of managing water infrastructure, the prolonged recovery period experienced across parts of the Commando system raises important questions about the resilience of the network and the City’s preparedness for future maintenance events,” said WaterCAN executive director Dr Ferrial Adam.
The Commando system serves several western and central Johannesburg communities, including Coronationville, Westbury, Claremont, Brixton, Crosby, Sophiatown, Melville, Emmarentia, Greenside and Parktown.
By Monday, the Commando system was only at 39% recovery, while the Midrand system was at 59% recovery following the 29 May to 2 June maintenance work. During this time, supply to Eikenhof (which feeds Commando) was reduced to 91% pumping for 12 hours and then back to a full 100% pumping.
The next maintenance block will be on 17 July, where pumping to Eikenhof will be reduced to 50% due to Eskom working on the Zuikerbosch station. The timeframe is again 12 hours, but at a significantly reduced pumping rate, and this has WaterCAN worried.
/file/attachments/2993/gu_water_431860.jpg "Melville residents collect water from a water tanker. (Photo: Archive photo / Ihsaan Haffejee)")
“We know that maintenance can result in temporary disruptions. What residents need to understand is why recovery has taken so long in some areas and what is being done to prevent a repeat of this experience during the next maintenance cycle,” said Adam.
WaterCAN said that while Johannesburg Water had provided updates throughout the maintenance period, the public still lacked a clear explanation of the factors that contributed to the delayed restoration of supply in affected areas.
Crosby Reservoir remained low but pumping operations were ongoing, supplying Brixton Reservoir (1 and 2) and Hursthill 1 and 2 interlinks.
Hursthill 1 and 2 Reservoir remained on bypass, supplying fairly with additional boost from both interlinks. However, due to supply capacity constraints, poor pressure to no water could be expected in certain parts and higher-lying areas and in some pockets of areas which remained affected by no water.
WaterCAN was now asking Johannesburg Water to explain what contributed to the slow recovery of the Commando system, including:
- Which parts of the system experienced the greatest challenges during recovery.
- What interventions were required to restore supply.
- Whether any unexpected operational or infrastructure constraints were encountered.
- What measures would be implemented before the next planned maintenance shutdown.
The real test
“Residents are not looking for someone to blame. They are looking for information that helps them understand what happened and what can be expected in future,” said Adam.
“The reality is that another major maintenance intervention is scheduled for July. The real test now is whether the City and Johannesburg Water can demonstrate that they have assessed the challenges experienced during this recovery period and put measures in place to reduce the impact on residents next time.”
Adam was also urging more visible and accessible public communication during major outages and recovery periods.
When water outages extended beyond expected timeframes, residents needed more than generic updates. They needed meaningful information that allowed households, schools, clinics and businesses to plan accordingly.
“Transparency is not simply about sharing updates. It is about helping the public understand what is happening, what is being done and what will be done differently in future,” she said.
Joburg Water said that while several systems, including Midrand, Central and the Commando Systems, had shown encouraging signs of recovery, reduced incoming bulk supply after the maintenance period slowed restoration efforts in some areas.
“The commissioning of the new Brixton Reservoir and Tower have assisted in augmenting supply to the multiple Brixton supply zones. However, water supply remains intermittent, particularly in higher-lying areas and in some pockets of areas.
“Brixton Reservoirs and Towers improved and supplied fairly throughout the day, with routine interventions scheduled overnight to ensure capacity is built up overnight in preparation for the following day,” said Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala. DM
This article is produced by Our City News, a non-profit newsroom that serves the people of Johannesburg.
