Water leaks mean a quarter of the water for the city is lost

44% of the water provided to the City of Johannesburg by Rand Water is lost through leaks or non-revenue water, water that is not billed for, says Dr Ferrial Adam from WaterCAN.

“To have 25% of water lost through leaks, which is clean drinking water, in a water-scarce city is unacceptable.”

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She and Ward 99 councillor Beverly Jacobs say that much of the blame is placed on residents for high water consumption which ‘is not fair’.

“The number of leaks in my ward is unacceptable, especially when residents are asked to use water wisely and with restrictions in place,” says Jacobs.

The blame is also routinely put on ageing infrastructure that Johannesburg Water (JW) is battling to maintain or replace.

“For years and years entities have known their infrastructure was aging yet they did nothing, nor did they have any plans to prevent it.”

Ward 134 councillor Devon Steenkamp says, “I am aware of at least one leak a day. That is at a minimum 365 a year that I am aware of and need to escalate because JW has not attended to it within the 48-hour timeline as per the Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the city.”

Johannesburg Water often fails to repair faults within 48 hours

He says some routinely take several weeks to be repaired. “This is due to the lack of maintenance that has not happened over the last 30 years. Only every now and again you see a plan being implemented but it is not sufficient.”

One current example which will interrupt supply to residents, is a leak he noticed at the Honeydew Reservoir. “The outlet valve will have to be shut to do the repairs for yet another planned maintenance outage when a contractor is finally appointed to carry out the work.”

Ward 115 councillor Mark van der Merwe and Ward 88 councillor Nicolene Jonker say their wards are not too badly affected.

Van der Merwe says, “most leaks or issues are handled within 48 hours as per the SLA.

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I would say about 90–95% are handled within SLA. However, there are times when parts are needed or when there is some additional issue that may delay the repair.”

Jonker says apart from Emmarentia, which is plagued by water issues, that the rest of her ward is not too badly affected by leaks. “We have a proactive community who report leaks quickly and are heavily involved which helps. Neighbouring wards have a much more difficult time of it.”

Nicole van Dyk, Ward 99 councillor and shadow MMC for Environment and Infrastructure, says the situation is ‘not good’ when talking about leaks. “Johannesburg Water does not respond efficiently, nor timeously, a lot of the time. When it comes to bursts they are fairly quick, but minor bursts or leaks can take weeks.”

Water losses cost the city dearly

The spokesperson for Johannesburg Water Nombuso Shabalala says at the time of going to print that reservoirs were at 38% capacity.

“Non-revenue water losses as of the 2023/24 financial year was 46%, of which 24% is physical losses. In other words, non-revenue water is water which we purchase from the bulk supplier, Rand Water, but we do not derive an income from. However, the actual water lost through leaks, bursts, and leaking reservoirs amounts to 24%.”

She says there are backlogs to repair leaks and bursts in some regions, but ‘this is being managed by prioritising and making additional resources available to deal with these jobs’.

“These are being tracked for completion on a weekly basis. However, it must be noted that some jobs are more complex in nature and more time is spent in undertaking repairs. Further to this, the reduction of overall losses is being targeted via our various water demand management strategies which include advanced pressure management, pipe replacement projects, repairs to leaking reservoirs, as well as accelerated customer meter replacements, and addressing illegal connections. All of these require funding and is indeed being prioritised per financial year.”

Both JW and Adam agree that the entity cannot do this alone.

“We need consumers to be aware of their usage and reduce it where practical, despite the poor service from the city. Not Joburg Water nor Rand Water can fix this alone. Civil society needs to step in to help and residents need to be proactive about reporting leaks, using grey water, and being responsible with this precious liquid,” says Adam.

Jacobs says, in council this week, for the first time a turnaround strategy has been approved. “I will need to interrogate this further to hold Johannesburg Water accountable.”

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