Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province and economic hub, eagerly anticipates a significant inflow of additional water in 2028 from the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) to plug demand gaps in its water network.

However, it is not a silver bullet for Gauteng’s water woes, as no intervention or solution will ensure the province is water secure, unless local reticulation systems are fixed and water demand reduced.

Gauteng has experienced increasingly frequent and widespread water outages, with many suburbs and communities going for days or weeks with little or no water on a regular basis.

Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has gone so far as to call it a self- inflicted crisis, laying blame on the doorstep of municipalities, which have not fixed leaking pipes, maintained aging infrastructure or tackled illegal connections.

Of the five-billion litres of treated water Rand Water sends to water service authorities and municipalities, 2.3-billion litres is lost as the water is reticulated to consumers, Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo explains.

Gauteng’s nonrevenue water of about 49.2% – almost half of its treated water – is mostly caused by leaks in its unmaintained municipal infrastructure and illegal water connections, Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation chairperson Leon Basson previously commented in a media statement, noting that the municipalities remain the Achilles heel of the province’s water- related issues.

Power outages – which also significantly disrupt the operations of Rand Water’s reservoirs and pump stations – exacerbate the challenges, along with vandalism, nonpayment for water, widespread pollution, the impacts of climate change and the so-called water mafia, besides others.

Given Rand Water’s constraints and local-level infrastructure challenges, concerns have arisen about the impact on the province’s water supply of the current six-month maintenance shutdown of the LHWP.

However, the Vaal dam is over 30% full (at the time of writing) and, if this level drops to 18%, water will be released from other dams in the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) – the collective storage of which was 71.8% on November 11 – including the Sterkfontein dam, to boost it, assures Mahlobo.

Fragile Demand-Supply Balance

The demand-supply balance for treated water in Johannesburg is “very tight” and the system is vulnerable to disturbances caused by electromechanical breakdowns or spikes in demand resulting from heatwaves, says Majodina, further emphasising the impact of the increasing demand for water in the province.

“The main underlying cause of the water supply disruptions in Johannesburg is that the peak demand for water is close to, and occasionally exceeds, the available supply from Rand Water [which cannot provide more water than it already does],” she says.

This results in an imbalance owing to accelerating demand from a growing population and economy, exacerbated by many individuals, households and businesses using more water than is necessary, with average consumption of water in Gauteng at 279 litres a person daily, 60% above the world average.

The weekly dashboard published by the multistakeholder platform for a Water Secure Gauteng regularly shows that the Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane metropolitan municipalities are consuming more water than their water-use efficiency targets.

A snapshot taken in mid-November, for instance, showed that consumption in the City of Johannesburg was 1 676-million litres a day – 320-million litres above its target of 1 356-million litres a day. Consumption in the City of Ekurhuleni was 1 036-million litres, 14-million litres above its target of 1 022-million, while the City of Tshwane was using 772-million litres a day, 106-million litres above its daily target of 666-million litres.

“We have to reduce the consumption of water at a faster pace. If we cannot do that, the system will not be in a position to carry us for longer,” warns Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.

Even after the completion of the second phase of the LHWP, the province’s long-term water consumption will need to be carefully managed, because there are limits to which further phases of the LHWP or other water transfer projects can continue to provide additional water to Gauteng at an affordable cost.

In a presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation in October, Rand Water CEO Sipho Mosai said the water board’s temporarily increased licensed abstraction limit of 1 800-million cubic metres a year is expected to be reduced to 1 600-million cubic metres (4 384-million litres a day) by September 2025, requiring concerted efforts in water conservation and demand management across the 18 municipalities it serves.

He further points out that sustaining maximum output indefinitely is inadvisable, as the high volumes, peaking recently at about 5 200-million litres, not only place undue pressure on infrastructure but also prevents Rand Water from conducting necessary maintenance and filter backwashing, as well as addressing other operational requirements.

Further, Rand Water’s R38-billion five-year rolling capital works programme, aimed at increasing both storage and water treatment capacity in anticipation of the completion of the LHWP, is being undermined by the challenges, Rand Water chairperson Ramateu Monyokolo said during a National Assembly briefing in November.

In addition to delays in infrastructure project implementation stemming from encroachment issues, illegal mining activities, unpredictable weather patterns and the impacts of climate change, Monyokolo points to the high water losses faced by some municipalities preventing them from generating sufficient revenue to pay water boards, which in turn poses risks to Rand Water’s own infrastructure expansion and improvements. Rand Water is owed about R7.5-billion by various municipalities across its supply region, with R3.37-billion of this amount owed for more than 120 days.

This is a nationwide challenge, with municipalities owing water boards a collective R22.92-billion as at the end of August, negatively impacting on six of the country’s seven water boards. Two water boards – Vaal Central Water and Magalies Water – are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Monyokolo highlights the entity’s proactive stance in offering assistance to municipalities, including interventions in Emfuleni to eliminate sewage issues and exploring special- purpose vehicles for collaborative projects aimed at addressing water challenges.

“We cannot take responsibility for municipalities not maintaining infrastructure. We can only supply a certain amount [of water] and, if demand goes beyond that, it is up to the municipalities to mitigate that. All we can do is to try and assist the municipalities where we can, but there are legal, legislative and regulatory limitations on what we can do,” he explains.

While the Level 1 water restrictions imposed in September will help mitigate the shortages, Lesufi stresses the need for an overarching strategy to help mitigate the water challenges.

Greater Urgency

The challenges, which are not caused by just one sector or government entity, are not new, emphasises WaterCAN executive manager Dr Ferrial Adam, pointing to the DWS’s Blue, Green and No Drop reports in 2022 and 2023, which revealed the dire situation.

“Where was the urgency then?” she questions, highlighting that the water crisis is worse than the country’s electricity crisis, which compelled State-owned Eskom to implement loadshedding for several years to ease the strain on the national electricity grid.

“The 100-day report by the Minister was indeed a good report of the ongoing work by the DWS. The Minister has mentioned once again that the challenges are at a municipal level, and we cannot continue to leave local municipalities to fix the water challenges. Given the issues we are seeing, national government has to get more involved.”

The scale of the turnaround needs urgent national political buy-in and intervention – not just at a Ministerial level.

Tsebo Facilities Management CEO Aubrey McElnea agrees, adding that, with the enormous burden on “already creaking” inefficient water infrastructure and municipalities initiating “draconian” water restrictions on the users, the dire situation underscores the urgent need for both provincial and national intervention to rectify these systemic failures and ensure sustainable service delivery.

While there are limits to what the DWS can legally do, the department is supporting the municipalities, said DWS director-general Dr Sean Phillips during a presentation on the department’s first 100 days under the seventh administration.

Several legislative amendments are under way to address the underlying structural causes of the widespread deterioration of municipal water services and strengthen the department’s ability to effectively regulate municipal water services.

However, reducing water losses requires a multipronged approach by cities that includes plugging leaks, disconnecting illegal connections, ensuring correct billing and enforcing by-laws, Majodina adds.

The DWS, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Gauteng’s provincial leaders and municipalities are meeting daily and weekly to monitor the crisis, with municipalities responding positively, according to the Minister.

Joburg in Focus

City of Johannesburg executive mayor Dada Morero says work is under way to reverse the deteriorating situation.

“Our percentage is 40%, in terms of losses, illegal connections and leaking pipes. It is not easy to quantify, but [from] what we buy from Rand Water, we lose 40% and cannot recover the revenue from the losses.

“We have put in place the proper resources to repair the leaks and reservoirs,” he says, highlighting that 11 of the 45 reservoirs that are not in a good state are being repaired, with extensive pipe replacement programmes under way and initiatives being implemented to conserve water in government buildings.

“We are going to prioritise water infrastructure and pump more resources in our adjustment budget in January, and look at other funding models and instruments that will assist us to fund our infrastructure, as it has become more urgent than ever.”

He notes that at least 33% of the city’s R1.9-billion of Urban Settlements Development Grant is allocated towards water infrastructure.

Johannesburg Water’s turnaround strategy includes the ringfencing of revenue from the sale of water for the water function, as well as creating single-point accountability for the water function in the city, a move Adam says is a positive outcome of the turnaround plan for the water sector.

Among the many initiatives being implemented under Johannesburg Water’s turnaround plan is the throttling of water supply between 21:00 and 04:00 so that reservoir levels recover overnight, a measure that will continue from November 14 until the system has recovered fully.

The City of Johannesburg and Johannesburg Water have started cutting off illegal connections in key informal settlements and accelerating leak detection, interventions that have resulted in an estimated water demand reduction of 9 457-million litres a year.

To date, 12 100 km of water pipelines have been surveyed and 2 396 burst pipes, 6 727 leaking meters, 442 leaking valves and 259 leaking hydrants identified and repaired.

Adam comments that while the audit and acceleration of leak detection were critical, there is a need to replace some of the aging infrastructure. However, there is no indication of the detailed plan and the timeline for implementing it.

“We need the details of the plan and we need to know what the Minister and the National Treasury are going to do to get the budget going.”

Further, advanced pressure management systems will be installed, including 45 smart pressure controllers, or pressure reducing valves, in addition to the 15 already refurbished and retrofitted to date, to reduce water losses at night, when demand is low.

Every municipality is now reviewing its budget with a view to improving infrastructure, says Lesufi, pointing out that a local government summit was convened to adopt a nine-point plan so every municipality across the province can agree to the basics.

“Johannesburg covers a larger portion of Gauteng, so we are investing our resources, energy and skills on the city. If we can get Johannesburg right, it will be easier to get the other municipalities right,” he explains.

There is a need for an overarching strategy to reduce water use, strengthen law enforcement to protect infrastructure and resources, and embark on a high-level communication strategy that would narrow the widening trust gap between government and citizens.

“We are on top of this situation. We will do everything in our power to manage this situation. Gauteng is the economic hub, and the use of water plays a critical role in the economy.”

Johannesburg Water will also work with the National Treasury to establish a public- private partnership (PPP) aimed at reducing nonrevenue water and mobilising private- sector funding and expertise.

Adam raises concern over PPPs, cautioning that improved, open and transparent communication will be needed to ensure an effective partnership that benefits all citizens.

There have been several successful PPP programmes across Africa over the last few decades, demonstrating that harnessing the private sector can help to tackle challenges in an environment of scarce resources, McElnea told Engineering News & Mining Weekly in a written response.

While PPPs may not provide a quick, one-size-fits-all solution for the ongoing water challenges, they can serve as a strategic model for addressing water management challenges comprehensively. By pooling resources and expertise, they can accelerate the deployment of innovative solutions and ensure sustainable management practices.