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‘Humanitarian crisis’ — Residents protest at water cuts as Joburg Water says it’s ‘stepped up our game’

(From left) Johannesburg Water senior manager Logan Mumsamy and MD Ntshavheni Mukwevho at a briefing on the current state of water supply in the City of Johannesburg at Turbine Hall in Newtown on 28 November 2024. (Photo: Sharon Seretlo / Gallo Images)

By Julia Evans

28 Nov 2024

Amid worsening water cuts, frustrated residents are demanding accountability and immediate action from municipal authorities and Joburg Water. Communities in areas such as Melville, Westdene and Coronationville have been left without water for days, some even weeks, and they feel unheard by the powers that be.

“We will do our part when we the city do their part. You don’t understand what it’s like living like this, when you don’t know one day to the next if you’ll have water coming from your tap,” said Julia Fish, of community organisation JoburgCAN. A resident of Melville, she can’t remember the last time she was able to have a proper shower because of water cuts in her area.

For 27 consecutive days, residents in Melville, Emmarentia, Coronationville, Westdene and Westbury – to name a few – in the southwest of Joburg have been left with little to no water. Residents report that high-lying areas experience access for less than 20% of this time.

In the past week, these areas have been hit by a complete supply failure, other than an hour on a select few days.

Fish was speaking to Daily Maverick on Thursday, 28 November, alongside Perth Road in Hurst Hill, as she protested with other residents from Melville, Coronationville, Westbury and Emmarentia, demanding that Joburg Water listen to them. They had been standing there since 5.30am.

Fish said the City continually called for customers to reduce their water consumption, but didn’t understand what it was like not to have access to water.

The City of Johannesburg and its water utility, Joburg Water, face a demand and supply issue. The current daily consumption for Johannesburg averages 1.75 million litres per day (Ml/d), which is a problem because Rand Water is planning to cut supply to the city to 1,600 Ml/d from Sunday, 1 December 2024.

There will be a further reduction of supply from Rand Water to 1,550 Ml/d between February 2025 and April 2025, which will then gradually reduce to a supply to 1,356 Ml/d by September 2025.

But a large reason Gauteng has such high consumption levels is non-revenue water, which refers to both physical water losses (burst pipes and leaks) and commercial losses (such as billing errors and unmetered connections). According to Johannesburg Water, in the 2023/2024 financial year, 46.2% of the water supplied was non-revenue water, with physical losses alone accounting for around 24%.

The protest on Thursday, organised by WaterCAN, a community action network under the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), gathered a few residents from affected areas, following a week of protests in areas with water cuts.

Read more: Protests hit Joburg again after a six-day water supply cut

In an open letter to Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero, the managing director of Joburg Water and President Cyril Ramaphosa, a group of residents and businesses from Melville and other affected communities said: “This catastrophic situation has left families unable to meet basic needs such as cooking, cleaning and hygiene requirements while businesses struggle to stay open, threatening livelihoods and jobs.

“This is not merely a service delivery issue; it is a humanitarian crisis, an economic disaster and a violation of our constitutional rights.

They demanded an immediate restoration of water supply, the reliable deployment of water tankers, transparent communication and evidence of promised infrastructure upgrades.

Read more: Joburg’s water restrictions set to tighten further as crisis deepens

Gap in communication

Johannesburg Water protest action Edmund Bailey, from Coronationville, says he has had intermittent water supply for months. He joined the protest action against Joburg Water on Perth Road, Hurst Hill, on 28 November 2024. (Photo: Julia Evans)

Residents in Coronationville, Johannesburg, protest against the ongoing disruption to the water supply in the area on 26 November 2024. (Photo: Supplied)

Joburg water protests Lenasia South residents protesting against the Johannesburg water crisis on 12 November 2024. (Photo: Sharon Seretlo / Gallo Images)

Residents and businesses in Melville have expressed frustration with the city and Joburg Water over the lack of communication regarding the ongoing water crisis. Despite numerous attempts to seek updates, many feel neglected and unheard. They emphasise the need for transparency and swift action to address the issue.

WaterCAN executive manager Dr Ferial Adam told Daily Maverick at the protest that despite their main message – fix our water – residents need better communication.

“There’s a briefing today at 9am. But it took burning tyres and a protest to get to this point,” she said. “And it doesn’t always need to be a briefing – people just need to know what is going on.”

She added residents don’t need information about which reservoir is empty, saying: “So what? What are you doing to help us?”

Read more: Daily water cuts spark outrage: Johannesburg residents demand urgent action amid infrastructure collapse

At the press briefing a few hours later at Joburg Water’s head office in Newtown, Joburg Water MD Ntshavheni Mukwevho acknowledged the need for improved communication but noted the complexities of managing water supply.

“Water doesn’t work like electricity,” he said. “It’s not as simple as saying, ‘We’ll turn it off now and back on at 12.’ There are many variables, and sometimes, the information doesn’t change because the system hasn’t recovered yet. We’re working on additional measures, but we need time to see the results.”

What Joburg Water is doing

Joburg Water press briefing (From left) Joburg Water senior manager Logan Mumsamy and MD Ntshavheni Mukwevho at a briefing on the current state of water supply in the City of Johannesburg at Turbine Hall in Newtown on 28 November 2024. (Photo: Sharon Seretlo / Gallo Images)

“So, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done [to reduce supply],” Mukwevho said.

“In terms of our interventions, we’ve stepped up our game. There’s aggressive interventions that we’ve already started in place.”

Logan Munsamy, senior manager for water demand management, outlined Joburg Water’s interventions, which include:

Immediate actions:

Water throttling: A permanent reduction of water supply to prepaid and deemed consumption areas began on 11 November. This involves throttling and closing certain high-demand zones. Joburg Water also noted that there is an additional operational budget for alternative water supplies to critical customers, such as schools and old-age homes;

Water restrictions: Scheduled water cuts between 9pm and 5am began on 8 November, and were adjusted to 4am from 14 November. Further restrictions, extending from 4pm to 4am, are being considered if demand remains high. Level 1 water restrictions, which come with Level 1 tariffs, will be implemented from 1 December;

Faster repairs: Joburg Water plans to reduce burst pipe repair times from 48 to 24 hours by expediting the procurement of contractors (such as welders for steel pipes) and acquiring additional equipment for quicker underground repairs. It also aims to improve first-line response teams to isolate bursts and reduce water loss within the first hour of detection; and

Aggressive by-law enforcement: Joburg Water is conducting Level 3 disconnections in informal settlements where illegal connections have been identified in collaboration with the Johannesburg Metro Police Department’s by-law enforcement unit. Joburg Water is targeting illegal connections in hijacked buildings. Last week, 12 hijacked or poorly maintained buildings in the CBD were disconnected, and this week, eight more buildings are scheduled for disconnection, with plans to target a southern Johannesburg area soon.

Leveraging smart tech and improving infrastructure

Since October 2024, Joburg Water has prioritised the repair and maintenance of pressure reducing valves (PRVs), which help control system pressure and minimise water loss through leaks and burst pipes.

Of the 685 PRVs identified, only 60% are currently functional, with repairs completed on 204 so far. Joburg Water aims to complete 80% of these repairs by December 2024. To further optimise pressure management, the utility is fast-tracking the installation of smart pressure controllers on high-demand PRVs.

Joburg Water is leveraging smart leak-detection technology to tackle both visible and hidden water losses. In the 2023/2024 financial year, the utility surveyed 12,100km of water pipelines, identifying more than 9,000 leaks, including 2,396 burst pipes and 6,727 leaking meters. The entity reported that this approach has reduced water demand by 9,457 ML annually (approximately 25 ML per day).

To improve detection of underground leaks that are often invisible, Joburg Water has procured noise loggers – sensors embedded in pipelines that can detect leaks not visible to the naked eye. The first batch of 125 sensors is expected soon, with plans to instal 200 additional loggers by the end of the financial year.

These efforts are part of Joburg Water’s broader water conservation and water demand management strategy, which aims to cut water demand by 37,123ML annually.

As part of the strategy, the utility is also focused on repairing leaking reservoirs, replacing ageing infrastructure and creating new pressure management zones. To support these efforts, Joburg Water is intensifying public awareness campaigns to encourage water conservation and ensure compliance with water restrictions.

The Commando system

Melville, Auckland Park and Parktown West are supplied by the Hurst Hill 2 reservoirs, which, along with Hurst Hill 1, are fed by the Rand Water Commando meter.

Joburg Water explained that City Power maintenance on 17 November 2024 had an impact on the Rand Water Eikenhof Pump Station, worsening the recovery of the sensitive Commando system. Recovery has been slow owing to high demand and hot weather, but improvements are expected within 2–3 days as the systems are reconfigured.

Joburg Water said that in the meantime, water tankers are being deployed to affected areas, including Melville, Coronationville, Emmarentia, Westbury and Claremont.

Fish said that Joburg Water had placed a water tanker at a Shell garage on Main Road in Melville, filling a single 1,000-litre JoJo tank, as well as providing one for restaurants on 7th Street.

However, she said that the tank at the garage is often empty or poorly positioned, making it difficult to fill even a 5-litre bottle. As a result, she has been relying on the tank at the Auckland Park Mosque for water.

Long-term fixes

While Joburg Water’s short-term measures include night closures and throttling of high-demand areas, medium- to long-term infrastructure plans include:

Crosby Bulk Infrastructure Project (R305-million estimated cost, February 2025 start): This project includes installing a standby generator at Crosby Reservoir to mitigate power blackouts and improve pump efficiency to Brixton Reservoir. A new booster pump station will also help supply Hurst Hill 2 Reservoir. The scope also includes a new connection from Rand Water to Crosby Reservoir via a 1-metre diameter bulk supply main.

Brixton Reservoir, Tower and Pump Station (R326-million estimated cost): This project involves constructing a new 26ML reservoir, a 2.2ML tower and associated pipework. It’s currently under construction and will take 18 months to complete.

Hurst Hill 2 Reservoir Renewal (R26-million, March 2025 start): The renewal project includes internal repairs and lining of the 23ML reservoir, in-situ lining of a 600mm bypass pipeline and replacing valves and fittings. Construction is expected to take 13 months. DM

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