Minister throws Gauteng water lifeline
· Citizen
The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, has approved an urgent water-use licence allowing Rand Water to draw additional water from the Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS) for the next four months.
This comes as reservoir levels across Gauteng continue to struggle to recover following a series of infrastructure failures in late January.
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Departmental spokesperson Wisane Mavasa stated that the licence grants Rand Water a temporary increase of 200 million cubic metres per annum above its current allocation of 1 803 million m³/a.
She added that the licence will remain in effect from February through to June 2026.
It is unclear whether water purification and other infrastructure will be able to accommodate the increase in volume, with this previously cited as a concern.
What caused Gauteng’s water supply to collapse
According to the department, the water crisis was triggered between 27 January and 1 February 2026, when a string of electro-mechanical failures hit Rand Water’s Palmiet and Zuikerbosch pump stations.
These incidents were followed by a major pipe burst at the Klipfontein reservoir.
The combined impact caused a severe drop in treated water reaching Gauteng’s 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 to Gauteng municipalities,” Mavasa stated.
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However, the disruption had already done considerable damage.
“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,” Mavasa said.
She added that lower-lying areas largely escaped supply disruptions.
The seasonal heat wave gripping the province since early February compounded matters further.
Increased consumption in areas that were still receiving water significantly slowed the recovery of municipal distribution systems, according to the department.
Government’s coordinated response to the crisis
During his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on 12 February, President Cyril Ramaphosa called on Majodina and the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Velenkosini Hlabisa, to address the ongoing nationwide water crisis.
They were instructed to focus on Gauteng, as residents had been staging several service delivery protests.
The department has now revealed that it mobilised a “high-level political” response.
It revealed that Majodina, alongside Hlabisa, Deputy Ministers Mahlobo and Masemola, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, and MEC Boy Mamabolo, agreed on a package of measures to stabilise the situation.
Additionally, implementation is being led by the directors general of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and Cogta, in coordination with Rand Water and the affected municipalities.
The measures include accelerated leak repairs and pipe replacements, the removal of illegal connections, and fast-tracking capital works programmes, particularly the construction of additional reservoir storage and pumping capacity.
On the operational side, authorities are employing load shifting, which moves water volumes between stable and critical systems to balance supply, and controlled throttling, which manages reservoir outlets to build storage levels overnight.
Level 2 water-use restrictions have also been approved by municipal councils and are now being enforced, especially in high-use areas.
“There is daily detailed coordination between Rand Water and the cities in Gauteng,” Mavasa noted.
She added that Rand Water has gone beyond its own mandate by offering to assist municipalities directly.
The entity has been helping the City of Tshwane refurbish two water treatment works and reduce leaks in priority areas of the distribution network.
Why the emergency abstraction licence was necessary
Despite these measures, reservoir recovery across parts of Gauteng has remained sluggish.
It is against this backdrop that the additional abstraction licence was approved, a decision the department is at pains to frame as exceptional and time-limited.
“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,” Mavasa stressed.
The IVRS, which comprises 14 interlinked dams, already operates under constrained conditions.
DWS determines abstraction limits through long-term hydrological analysis to ensure water can be drawn continuously and sustainably, including during drought periods.
Before approving Rand Water’s application, the department conducted a comprehensive hydrological yield assessment.
“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,” Mavasa said.
The temporary nature of the licence is therefore not a bureaucratic technicality. It reflects a genuine risk to the province’s long-term water security.
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The real fix lies with municipalities – and they’re running out of excuses.
While the emergency licence buys time, the department is clear that the structural solutions must come from municipalities themselves.
Mavasa emphasised the importance of municipalities ringfencing revenue from water sales and directing those funds toward reducing non-revenue water and upgrading ageing distribution infrastructure.
“It is imperative that the municipalities continue to implement the measures listed above, which are the solutions to the water supply disruptions in Gauteng,” she said.
Municipalities are also being urged to partner with the private sector to mobilise funding for water infrastructure upgrades.
Majodina convened Gauteng municipalities to reinforce this message.
“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,” the department said.
It added that where capacity gaps exist, national government would step in by deploying technical support to assist struggling municipalities.
Longer-term reforms already in motion
DWS points to two legislative and policy processes as the foundation of a more durable solution.
The department further stated that the Water Services Amendment Bill, currently before parliament, and the Reform of Metropolitan Trading Services Programme being implemented by National Treasury are both aimed at ensuring water revenue is ring-fenced for water-related functions, and that municipal water service providers are transformed into professionally managed, accountable entities.
“The longer-term solutions to the water crisis lie in the reforms underway through the Water Services Amendment Bill,” Mavasa confirmed.
She added that the goal is single-point accountability at the municipal level.
In the meantime, the department is calling on residents to do their part.
“Water users in those areas which have still been receiving water are called upon to comply with municipal water use restrictions,” Mavasa said.
Meanwhile, Majodina appealed to civil society and citizens to work alongside government to navigate the ongoing crisis.