Ageing infrastructure, non-payment worsen Joburg's water crisis

Water losses drive up user costs, fixing backlog could lead to higher tariffs

- MASABATA MKWANANZI

JOHANNESBURG'S infrastructure is at a critical juncture. Over the past fifteen years, the city has witnessed minimal replacement of water infrastructure, according to an expert.

As a result, many of these essential assets have now reached the end of their design life, leading to a growing sense of urgency for substantial renewal efforts to address the significant backlog.

Speaking to The Star, a professional civil engineer and visiting adjunct professor at the University of the Witwatersrand Graduate School of Governance, laid bare the scale of Johannesburg's water woes, from collapsing infrastructure and the heavy economic toll of supply failures to the urgent interventions needed to pull the city back from the brink of a full-blown water catastrophe.

Joburg, and other parts of Gauteng, are in the grip of a deepening water crisis, with thousands of residents enduring repeated and prolonged supply cuts while the city battles staggering levels of non-revenue water lost through leaks, illegal connections, and a crumbling system that can no longer keep up with demand.

This has led to widespread protests in the affected areas.

Muller noted that Johannesburg has done little to replace ageing infrastructure over the past 15 years, leaving the city with a massive renewal backlog. “Infrastructure should be regularly replaced when it reaches the end of its design life. In Johannesburg, there has been very little replacement in the last fifteen years.

“Substantial renewal is now needed to catch up with the backlog.”