Minister Pemmy Majodina permits Rand Water additional abstraction to stabilise Gauteng water crisis

Between 27 January 2026 and 1 February 2026, several electro-mechanical failures occurred at Rand Water’s Palmiet and Zuikerbosch pumpstations, as well as a huge pipe burst at the Rand Water Klipfontein reservoir. These disruptions caused a severe drop in the supply of treated water by Rand Water to the Gauteng municipalities. Rand Water repaired the equipment failures rapidly and by 4 February,  Rand Water had returned to its full normal supply of 5000 million litres of treated water per day water to Gauteng municipalities.

The reduced supply of treated water from Rand Water during 27 January and 3 February resulted in the depletion of many of the municipal storage reservoirs in Gauteng, resulting in no water being supplied in many areas, particularly high lying areas. Other areas, particularly low-lying areas, have not experienced supply disruptions.

The situation was exacerbated by a heat wave in the province since early February. The heat wave resulted in increased consumption of water in areas which were still receiving water,  which further delayed the recovery of the municipal distribution systems.

As part of President Ramaphosa’s focus on attending to the national water crisis and Gauteng in particular, Minister Majodina and Minister Hlabisa of COGTA as well as Deputy Ministers Mahlobo and Masemola, as well as Premier Lesufi and MEC Mamabolo, agreed on a range of measures to stabilise the situation. Implementation of these measures is being coordinated by technical teams from DWS, Rand Water and the municipalities, led by the Directors General of DWS and COGTA, and include:

• Accelerated fixing of leaks in municipal distribution systems, including the replacement of old leaking pipes, by the municipalities
• Removal of illegal connections by the municipalities
• Acceleration of municipal water and sanitation capital works programmes, particularly the construction of additional reservoir storage capacity and pumping capacity
• Load shifting (moving water volumes between stable and critical systems to balance the system (this results in reduced pressure in stable areas, but does not result in supply disruptions in stable areas))
• Controlled throttling (managing reservoir outlets to build storage levels overnight)
• Approval of level 2 water use restrictions by the municipal councils, and enforcement of the restrictions, particularly in high-use areas
• Improved communication between the municipalities and the public. 

There is daily detailed coordination between Rand Water and the cities in Gauteng. Rand Water has also offered to assist the municipalities to implement the above measures and has been assisting the City of Tshwane to refurbish two of their water treatment works and to reduce the leaks in municipal distribution system in priority areas in the City. 

The municipal distribution systems have been gradually recovering, but in some areas in Gauteng, reservoir levels are still struggling to recover. Minister Majodina has been considering other options to accelerate the recovery of the municipal reservoirs and has now approved an urgent water use license application from Rand Water to abstract additional water from the IVRS for a period of four months. This will enable Rand Water to increase its water supply to the municipalities to assist them to stabilise their reservoir levels.

The additional abstraction license provides for a temporary increase of 200 million cubic metres per annum (million m³/a) to the Rand Water current allocation of 1 803 million m³/a and will be in effect between February to June 2026. In considering Rand Water’s application, DWS undertook a comprehensive hydrological yield assessment, considering the prevailing water supply constraints in Gauteng and the fact that the IVRS is already constrained and unable to accommodate permanent additional allocations.

This is not a long-term solution to the water supply challenges being experienced in Gauteng. It is a temporary measure to assist the municipal reservoir levels to recover. 

DWS sets a limit to the amount of water that Rand Water can abstract from the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS), which consists of 14 interlinked dams. DWS determines the abstraction limit through long-term hydrological analysis to determine the volume of water that can be abstracted per annum, continuously and sustainably, including through most periods of drought. It would be irresponsible for DWS to allow Rand Water to permanently increase its abstraction, as this could result in dire water supply consequences during periods of drought. 

It is imperative that the municipalities continue to implement the measures listed above, which are the solutions to the water supply disruptions in Gauteng. The municipalities must ring-fence revenue from the sale of water and use these funds to reduce non-revenue water and to upgrade their distribution infrastructure. They should also be entering into partnerships with the private sector to mobilise private sector funding for water infrastructure. Minister Majodina will be convening the Gauteng municipalities tonight to emphasis the importance of the measures that they need to implement. 

The longer-term solutions to the water crisis lie in the reforms under way through the Water Services Amendment Bill which is currently before Parliament, as well as the Reform of Metropolitan Trading Services Programme being implemented by national Treasury. These reforms are aimed at ensuring that revenue from the sale of water is ring-fenced for the water function and that the providers of water services at municipal level become professionally managed entities with single-point accountability. 

Other policy measures that have been put in place by DWS include that municipalities should insource water carting or tankering, and that there should be increased but sustainable use of groundwater. Where necessary, national government will also be mobilising technical support to assist municipalities in Gauteng. 

Minister Majodina again calls on civil society and citizens to work with government to address the challenges being experienced in Gauteng. Water users in those areas which have still been receiving water are called upon to comply with municipal water use restrictions. 

For more information, contact: 
Ms Wisane Mavasa
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 060 561 8935
E-mail: mavasaw@dws.gov.za 

Mr Cornelius Monama 
Ministerial Spokesperson
Cell: 083 271 0808
E-mail:  monamac@dws.gov.za

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