Rand Water reported 0 days of supply disrupted in FY 2025, meeting its target. Its acute health microbiological compliance was 99.89% and its avoidable water losses were 4.37% of water produced, against a 5% target. By its own measures, it performs well.
Where the indicator stops
The Auditor-General flagged the limit of such measures in its 2020-21 review. Rand Water's indicator then counted only unplanned interruptions of longer than 24 hours, so it reported zero interruption days although parts of Johannesburg were without water for a week in October 2020. Its indicators measure supply at its own delivery points, not at municipal taps.
What 2026 brought
On January 27, 2026, a motor explosion disrupted operations at Zuikerbosch, with full operations restored by January 30. Equipment failures and a heat wave then depleted municipal reservoirs, and the Minister granted a temporary abstraction increase to 2,003 million cubic meters a year. Planned maintenance ran in phases from May 29 to July 17; before the final phase, a City Power incident cut power to Rand Water's Eikenhof pump station. In June, Rand Water cut bulk supply to Lesedi by 20% over R27.7 million of debt, before suspending the cut. In September, power interruptions affected supply to Emfuleni, parts of Johannesburg and the West Rand, Madibeng and Rustenburg.
The municipal tier
At the national Water and Sanitation Indaba in March 2025, 105 of 144 water services authorities were described as in crisis. National non-revenue water was put at 48% and average reliability of supply at 68%. On October 20, 2026, Rand Water warned that Johannesburg was drawing 1,801 ML/d against a licensed allocation of 1,356 ML/d.
Which institutions are responsible for each link in Gauteng's water chain, what the reforms under way will change, and where investment is planned to 2030 are set out in the report. The full report, Water Systems Overview: Rand Water, is available for USD 499. For a free overview, read the Rand Water Utility Snapshot.