Gauteng Water Crisis Deepens

Statement by Stephen Moore MP – DA Spokesperson on Water and Sanitation:

The Democratic Alliance is deeply concerned by the growing water crisis across Gauteng, with more communities experiencing prolonged outages and increasing signs that the province’s water supply system is struggling to cope.

Today, Ekurhuleni confirmed that Rand Water’s Vlakfontein Reservoir is running low, threatening supply to communities in Benoni, Daveyton and Etwatwa, while the system also supplies parts of Pretoria East. Residents in Bedfordview have already endured days without water.

In Johannesburg, communities supplied by the struggling Commando system, including Melville and surrounding areas, continue to experience repeated interruptions, compounded by long-delayed critical reservoir upgrades. Sandton is now also experiencing serious shortages, with critically low reservoirs and empty water towers, while other parts of Johannesburg are showing signs of strain.

The crisis is also increasingly affecting the safety of drinking water. In Tshwane, serious treatment and disinfection failures have left communities around Bronkhorstspruit unable to use their tap water, while a separate sewage-related contamination incident has forced Pretoria CBD and surrounding areas onto alternative supplies and a boil-water advisory.

Johannesburg Water has also issued a precautionary contamination alert in Bezuidenhout Valley. Residents should never have to worry whether the water coming from their taps is safe.

Rand Water has warned that it is already pumping at maximum capacity, while Johannesburg and Tshwane continue consuming substantially above their water allocation targets.

Our greatest concern is that Gauteng is entering summer with dangerously little resilience in its water supply system.

Even without another technical failure, current consumption levels, excessive water losses and inadequate reservoir storage mean that more widespread and prolonged outages are a real risk as summer demand increases. Another major power failure or pump breakdown could turn an already serious situation into a much larger crisis.

Residents must use water responsibly, but water restrictions alone cannot compensate for years of inadequate infrastructure maintenance, excessive municipal water losses and delayed upgrades.

The DA calls on Rand Water and the affected municipalities to urgently stabilise reservoir levels, accelerate critical infrastructure interventions, reduce water losses, ensure safe drinking water and provide reliable emergency supplies to affected communities.

We do not need to wait for the situation to become a full-blown crisis before acting. Communities across Gauteng are already suffering without reliable, safe water, and unless decisive action is taken, the situation risks getting worse rather than better.

Gauteng residents deserve reliable, safe drinking water and urgent action to prevent another summer of widespread water shortages.