Johannesburg Water plans to escalate its crackdown on illegal water connections to combat excessive non-revenue water losses.
Listen to this article 10 min Listen to this article 10 min Johannesburg Water has announced plans to ramp up its mass disconnection programme targeting illegal water connections across the city. This move comes as the utility grapples with a staggering 46% non-revenue water (NRW) rate for the 2023/24 financial year.
NRW refers to treated water that generates no revenue for the utility, whether lost through leaks, theft, or unbilled usage. So, for example, for every 100 litres of water that Joburg Water buys from Rand Water, the utility is unable to recoup revenue on 46 litres.
The utility attributes 25% of these losses to physical issues such as leaks and pipe bursts, 9.7% to commercial losses (including theft and billing errors), and 11.7% to authorised but unbilled consumption.
Informal settlements targeted
In response to the high non-revenue water losses, and Joburg's ongoing water crisis - that has left paying residents without a consistent supply of water for days, sometimes months - Joburg Water has intensified its mass disconnection programme, targeting illegal water connections, particularly in informal settlements where there are high levels of water losses.
Johannesburg Water said it would intensify the disconnections, not just...
