The new year brought no relief for Johannesburg’s taps. A run of burst pipes, empty reservoirs and a contamination scare shows how far the city’s water network has fallen, and how much it would cost to fix.
Any hope that Johannesburg’s water troubles would ease after the attention of the G20 summit in November faded quickly. Between 31 December 2025 and 15 January 2026, the city recorded at least 22 major water interruptions, according to a tally compiled by Daily Maverick from Johannesburg Water’s own notices. Taps ran dry in suburbs from Houghton and Rosebank to Eldorado Park, Kliptown and the inner city.
The interruptions were not confined to one part of the city or one kind of failure. Some were caused by burst pipes, some by low reservoir levels, and some by power failures at pumping stations. Together they paint a picture of a network failing on several fronts at once.
A map of dry taps
The list of affected areas reads like a guide to the whole city. Houghton Estate, Norwood, Killarney and Rosebank lost supply after a pipe burst in Houghton Estate, which then burst a second time. A pipeline serving Lion Pride and Lanseria also failed again in a different spot. Low levels at the Yeoville reservoir left Yeoville, Braamfontein, Parktown and parts of the CBD without reliable water. Sandton’s CBD and 17 surrounding suburbs were affected by problems at the Illovo reservoir and tower. A power failure at the Eikenhof pump station disrupted supply to Brixton, Richmond, Auckland Park and Vrededorp.
For some communities, interruptions are no longer events but a way of life. Selby, south of the CBD, has reportedly been without water for more than six months, while Kensington, Bezuidenhout Valley and the CBD face daily throttling and continued reliance on tankers.
Sewage in the drinking water
The most disturbing incident of the holiday season involved contamination. On 16 December 2025, residents in the CBD and Bezuidenhout Valley reported smelly water coming from their taps. Johannesburg Water later explained that sewage from a burst sewer pipe had leaked into a drinking water pipe during repairs. According to residents, the leak had first been reported as far back as March 2023.
Supply was turned off on 17 December, and initial sampling found E. coli, a bacterium that indicates faecal contamination. The system was flushed for about three weeks. By 5 January E. coli was no longer detected, but coliform levels remained elevated and additional chlorine was added. Safe drinking water was only declared restored on 10 January 2026, more than three weeks after the first complaints.
The episode shows how failures in the sewer and water networks are connected. Where pipes for both run close together and are poorly maintained, a break in one can poison the other.
An 80-year-old network
The underlying cause is age and neglect. Much of Johannesburg’s water network was built about 80 years ago. The city has about 12,364 kilometres of distribution pipes, a substantial portion of which needs replacing, yet only 17 kilometres were replaced in the last financial year. Of the city’s 98 reservoirs, 21 urgently need repair. According to the Gauteng Water Security Dashboard, the city recorded 20,915 leaks and pipe bursts between 1 July and 15 December 2025 alone, and about 27 percent of the water Johannesburg buys from Rand Water is lost through leaks and illegal connections.
New infrastructure has also stalled. The new Brixton reservoir and tower, meant to strengthen supply to the western suburbs, is about ten months behind schedule, according to WaterCAN, because the contractor stopped work several times over non-payment.
The money problem
That last detail points to the heart of the issue. Johannesburg Water needs more than R27 billion to repair and upgrade its infrastructure, but its capital budget for the current year is about R1.7 billion. At that rate, the backlog cannot be cleared for well over a decade, even if every rand were spent efficiently and no further deterioration occurred.
The gap is made worse by the way the city manages its cash. Under the so-called sweeping arrangement, money collected by Johannesburg Water flows into the city’s central accounts, and the utility must ask for funds to pay its suppliers. In November, the Auditor-General confirmed that R4 billion owed to Johannesburg Water by the city exists only on paper. Contractors who are not paid on time stop work, and projects like the Brixton reservoir fall behind.
WaterCAN’s executive manager, Ferrial Adam, has called for Johannesburg Water’s budget to be ring-fenced and increased, so that money meant for water is spent on water. She told Daily Maverick that the city’s systems are so badly run down that “they will become unfixable if not addressed quickly”. She also said the organisation had sent the mayor a set of demands and suggestions but had received only an acknowledgement.
A political test in an election year
Mayor Dada Morero has repeatedly given assurances that the city is addressing the crisis, pointing to its turnaround strategy and the ring-fencing of Johannesburg Water as a trading entity. But residents are likely to judge the city on what comes out of their taps, not on strategies. With local government elections due later in 2026, water has become one of the most visible measures of whether the city’s leadership is delivering.
The early weeks of 2026 suggest that the hardest part of the crisis is still ahead. Summer demand, ageing pipes, unreliable electricity at pump stations and a utility starved of cash are a dangerous combination. Unless Johannesburg finds a way to put far more money into its network, and to make sure that money actually reaches the pipes, the new year is likely to look very much like the old one.
References
Daily Maverick: Joburg’s water woes continue in 2026 with 22 major outages in two weeks (22 January 2026): https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-01-22-joburgs-water-woes-continue-in-2026-with-22-major-outages-in-two-weeks/
Daily Maverick: R4bn diverted from Joburg Water, Auditor-General says cash exists on paper (19 November 2025): https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-11-19-r4bn-diverted-from-joburg-water-auditorgeneral-says-cash-exists-on-paper/
Daily Maverick: Technical fault at pump station leaves Midrand without water for six days: https://dailymaverick.co.za/article/technical-fault-at-pump-station-leaves-midrand-without-water-for-six-days
The Mercury: G20 summit in Johannesburg, Mayor Morero addresses water supply concerns (2 November 2025): https://themercury.co.za/2025-11-02-g20-summit-in-johannesburg-mayor-morero-addresses-water-supply-concerns/
Gauteng Tourism Authority: Joburg faces ongoing water crisis: https://www.gauteng.net/whats-on-g/joburg-faces-ongoing-water-crisis/