Gauteng’s three metropolitan municipalities are consuming water well above its agreed quotas with water utility Rand Water.

Combined, the cities of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane are consuming 3 744-million litres of water a day, up from 3 602-million litres a day withdrawn a year ago and 3 693-million litres a day recorded last week.

This is well above Rand Water's consumption agreement with the metropolitans of an aggregate withdrawal limit of 3 045-million litres of water a day.

According to the water utility, there has been a steady increase of water consumption throughout January, after recording use of 3 498-million litres a day on December 29.

The City of Johannesburg is consuming 1 794-million litres of water a day, well above the target of 1 356-million litres a day. This is also an increase from 1 705-million litres a day reported a year ago and 1 775-million litres a day last week.

While the city consistently uses above 1 700-million litres of water a day, this is the highest consumption level over the past year.

The City of Ekurhuleni’s (CoE’s) consumption has also increased week-on-week, from 1 028-million litres a day last week to 1 053-million litres a day this week – the city’s highest consumption since February 2025.

This is, however, a decrease on the 1 060-million litres a day reported a year ago.

The CoE mostly maintains use in line with its 1 022-million litres a day consumption agreement. On December 15, it recorded use of 958-million litres a day.

Water consumption in the City of Tshwane (CoT) has also surged, reaching 897-million litres a day from last week’s 890-million litres a day, and last year’s 836-million litres a day.

This is above the 667-million litres a day withdrawal agreement with Rand Water.

The CoT nearly reached its agreement levels in July 2025, when it reduced water consumption to 686-million litres a day and 698-million litres a day during two weeks in July. However the metropolitan has consistently used above 800-million litres a day since.