It's a new year, but most of Johannesburg's water problems remain. Since December 31 there have been at least 22 major water outages which have left taps dry across large parts of the city.
In the case of a pipe burst in Houghton, the same burst recurred twice within the space of a week. In addition to the pipe bursts, areas like Selby have had no water for more than six months. Daily throttling and water tankers are still a way of life for residents of Kensington, Bez Valley and the CBD.
A major water contamination issue - affecting parts of Bez Valley - occurred on 16 December when residents first reported "smelly water" and Johannesburg Water (JW) later confirmed a burst sewage pipe spilling contaminated water into a clean water drinking pipe where repairs were being carried out. This pipe leak has been reported by concerned residents since March 2023.
JW instructed residents of Albertina Sisulu Road and surrounding streets (6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th avenues, as well as 10th Street) in the Joburg CBD and Bez Valley not to drink water while they tested and flushed the system. Water was turned off on 17 December.
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- coli (faecal matter) was found in the initial sampling and JW flushed the system for the next three weeks. On 5 January no traces of e-coli were found, but elevated levels of coliform (commonly found in soil) were still found, and additional doses of chlorine were put through the system. Drinking safe water was finally restored on 10 January.
A R27 billion infrastructure backlog
Large sections of the City's water infrastructure were built 80 years ago, and much of the 12 364 kilometres of distribution pipes need to be replaced. In the last financial year, the city managed to only replace 17km of pipe. According to the Gauteng Water Security Dashboard, the city had reported 20 915 leaks and pipe bursts between 1 July 2025 and 15 December 2025.
Of the City's 98 reservoirs, 21 are in urgent need of repair. 27% of the water Joburg buys from Rand Water is lost through leaks and illegal connections. Over the last 15 years investment in infrastructure replacement has declined rapidly. Joburg Water needs more than R27 billion to repair and upgrade its infrastructure, the current financial year's budget is R1.7 billion.
Dr Ferrial Adam, one of the convenors of the water protest action group, said the City was simply not getting a handle on its water issues.
"We presented the mayor with a set of demands and suggestions to sort this out, but we have only had an acknowledgement of our demands and a vague indication of a meeting at some stage. The water and sanitation problem is a national crisis, but we are not getting it right," she said.
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A major issue with JW's ability to get to grips with the water infrastructure backlogs, said Adam, is the fact that the entity does not control its own budget.
"The JW budget must be ringfenced to pay for projects. The new Brixton Tower and reservoir is 10 months behind schedule because the contractor walked off the job several times due to non-payment. Johannesburg Water needs its own budget, and it needs a bigger budget," she said.
"The City's way of managing its finances (sweeping) leaves JW cash-strapped and unable to pay contractors on time," Adam said.
Solutions to the water crisis,said Adam, include prioritising repairs, better communication between departments so that new developments in the City are not approved where there is no infrastructure to sustain them. "There is a plan to deal with this, but it is not being implemented. Our water systems are so bad that they will become unfixable if not addressed quickly," she said.
