The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) metropolitan municipality are continuing discussions around water supply challenges in the region.

The city has a total average water supply volume of 1 686 097 kilolitres a day supplying a population of 5.87-million, said DWS water and sanitation services management deputy director-general Dr Risimati Mathye during a presentation at a meeting on Tuesday.

Despite a Blue Drop score of 98.1% in 2023, the CoJ loses 46.1% of the water supplied to it by Rand Water.

Other challenges cited include an increase in the frequency of water main bursts, reduction in water storage capacity owing to leaking and the isolation of reservoirs and water theft through illegal connections in informal settlements, besides others.

“The persistent water supply challenges in Johannesburg are of great concern and they negatively reflect on all of us in the sector, and therefore require us to continue engaging on measures to completely address them,” said Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu.

“The projects required are seemingly easily identifiable, but there are funding constraints that we need to address and resolve.”

The meeting was also attended by CoJ acting Executive Mayor Loyiso Masuku, the MMC for Infrastructure and the leaders of Joburg Water and Rand Water.

A follow-up meeting has been scheduled for March 18.