01
About the Utility
Rand Water is a state-owned water board, accountable as a public entity under the Public Finance Management Act, that treats and conveys potable water for municipalities, mines and industries across Gauteng and parts of Mpumalanga, the Free State and North West. Its latest integrated report lists 17 municipalities, 27 mines and 952 industries among its customers, in areas home to more than 18 million people. It draws raw water from the Integrated Vaal River System under abstraction limits set by the Department of Water and Sanitation and delivers it into municipal networks. Through Rand Water Services it also works in Emfuleni, where it has been the department’s implementing agent since 2021.
02
Water System
Supply depends on the Integrated Vaal River System, a network of interconnected dams that includes Katse and Mohale in Lesotho. The system was almost full in late January 2026, yet supply stays tight because Rand Water already abstracts at its permitted limit and peak demand sits close to, and at times above, available supply. When equipment failures and a heatwave drained municipal reservoirs, the minister allowed a temporary increase from 1,803 to 2,003 million m³ a year for February to June 2026, calling it no long-term solution. Treatment combines lime and ferric chloride dosing, sedimentation, pH correction, sand filtration and chlorination.
Average volumes sold
Rand Water average potable volumes sold, ML/d, FY 2020 to FY 2025 (years ending 30 June)
Reported averages. Growth stalled in FY 2025 while the system runs near its Vaal abstraction allocation.
Sources: Rand Water integrated annual reports FY 2020-FY 2025, as verified in the approved Utility Intelligence Profile: Rand Water (independent QA PASS, 31 Oct 2026)03
Infrastructure & Performance
Rand Water’s assets are built for large-scale treatment and conveyance. More than 3,500 km of large-diameter pipelines feed 60 service reservoirs, and the B16 tie-in to that network was delivered ahead of schedule. The flagship addition is Station 5A at Zuikerbosch, near Vereeniging, launched by President Ramaphosa in August 2025 to add 600 ML/day; full capacity was scheduled for December 2025. On its own system, Rand Water reports low avoidable water losses and near-complete acute-health microbiological compliance. Downstream, the department and Rand Water blame shortages on municipal infrastructure failures and leakage rather than drought.
04
Investment & Priorities
Rand Water’s infrastructure plan to Parliament confirmed a R35 billion five-year capital programme for storage and treatment capacity, and a further 450 ML/day treatment upgrade is planned by 2028. Actual capital spending in FY2025 included R1.22 billion on augmentation and R0.74 billion on renewal. Funding draws on capital markets: R3.2 billion of unsecured bonds are in issue under its domestic note programme, and its 2021 sustainability-linked notes were reported as the first issued by an African state-owned entity.
05
Sustainability & Resilience
Long-term resilience rests on Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which official statements describe as the structural answer to Gauteng’s supply ceiling. Rand Water’s annual report targeted completion in October 2028, and the minister has ruled out further extensions. A ministerial update in September 2026 expected Polihali reservoir impoundment to begin in July 2027. Nearer term, it depends on municipal customers, whose arrears, illegal connections and leakage strain revenue and supply, and on energy security, one of Rand Water’s four strategic goals.
06
Key Challenges
- Delivering Lesotho Highlands Phase II on its 2028 timetable as demand presses against the abstraction limit.
- Maintaining supply through equipment failures and heatwave peaks near full capacity.
- Recovering municipal arrears, over R8 billion by Q3 2024/25, without slowing capital delivery.
- Supporting municipalities to cut leakage and illegal connections.
