Affluent suburbs in Johannesburg and Pretoria, as well as those in central Johannesburg and Soweto, are victims of a water-consumption spike that has seen Gauteng with a supply deficit of almost 400 megalitres a day.
A third of the water supplied to the province is lost — to problems including leaks and theft — with Emfuleni municipality on the Vaal losing almost two-thirds of the water supplied to it, adding to the province's water demand problems.
The department of water & sanitation has cited rapid population growth in Gauteng and increasing water losses in the municipal water distribution system as among factors behind water demand exceeding supply in the province.
This comes as Rand Water, which supplies Gauteng and parts of Mpumalanga, the Free State and North West, warned that high water consumption in Johannesburg and Tshwane is straining the system.
Stats SA's July 2022 midyear population estimate said Gauteng's population stood at 16-million people, an increase of almost 5-million from the 12.2-million counted in the 2011 census.
“This tight supply/demand situation is worsened by periods of heavy load-shedding when both Rand Water and municipalities struggle to pump sufficient water into their storage reservoirs to enable water to be supplied consistently to high-lying areas,” said water and sanitation spokesperson Wisane Mavasa.
Mavasa said this left water supply vulnerable to equipment breakdowns and “results in shortages of water during demand peaks, such as during a heatwave”.
She said Rand Water was licensed to abstract 1,6-billion cubic metres of water a year, but was exceeding its licence allocation by 80 megalitres a day. She added that Johannesburg and Tshwane had systems deficits of 108 and 191 megalitres a day respectively. Ekurhuleni was the only Gauteng metro without a water supply deficit.
“This excess is due to population growth, industrialisation and non-revenue water, most caused by physical water losses and leaks.”
Mavasa said Gauteng's water shortages were not because there wasn't enough raw water available, but because of “the limited capacity of Rand Water to produce treated water coupled with the increasing demand from municipalities, which in turn is partly caused by high water losses”.
Water expert Dr Anthony Turton disagreed that excessive usage was a factor, saying: “It's incorrect to blame the current situation on the consumer.” He instead blamed poor infrastructure.
“The population has been growing naturally through in-migration and normal population dynamics over the past three decades. The infrastructure has not kept pace with that trend. To make matters worse, about 50% of the water supplied by Rand Water is lost within the municipal networks from leaks and unaccounted-for water,” he said.
Turton also referred to sabotage, including “cases where zama zama miners break into a mains pipeline to process their ore. This is typical along Main Reef Road" on the West Rand.
The population has been growing ... and infrastructure has not kept pace.
— Anthony Turton, water expert
Johannesburg's CBD, Soweto and suburbs including Garsfontein in Pretoria and Sandton have emerged as some of the province's highest water consumption areas.
In Johannesburg, densely populated areas such as Hillbrow, Braamfontein, Yeoville and Brixton top the water consumption list, followed by Soweto, Sandton, Randburg, the deep south and Midrand, says Joburg Water.
The utility cited population growth, increasing development, residents' habits, technical and non-technical losses — as well as ageing infrastructure — as factors influencing increased water demand.
The City of Tshwane said Garsfontein in Pretoria East consumed the most water, followed by Elardus Park, Parkmore, Queenswood and Moreleta. Mamelodi township was sixth.
Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said their water consumption reduced from 355-million kilolitres of water in 2018/19 to 348-million last year.
Ekurhuleni's water consumption rose from over 355.1-million kilolitres in 2019 to over 368.3-million in 2023. However, the city was the only Gauteng metro using water below the city’s licensed volume.
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