The recent water challenges experienced in Johannesburg are indicative of the broader issues that many cities could face if infrastructure remains unmaintained, says Frost & Sullivan consultant Yaa Ngonyama.

“In water-scarce countries like South Africa, the availability of untreated water is expected to worsen owing to economic and population growth, coupled with deteriorating infrastructure,” she says.

In the past few years, Cape Town experienced a one-in-400-year drought that nearly led to a ‘Day Zero’ scenario in which the taps run dry, and various cities, including Durban, have faced severe outcomes owing to frequent and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods.

Experts predict that the world could run out of fresh water entirely by 2040 unless immediate and significant changes to water use are implemented.

“Human activities have significantly contributed to the rapid depletion and mismanagement of water resources, while climate change exacerbates the situation,” says Ngonyama, pointing out that, between 2000 and 2022, the number and duration of global droughts increased by 29%, leading to more than 2.3- billion people facing water scarcity by 2022.

Further, Africa, disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, is experiencing a warming trend that exceeds the global average and has accounted for 44% of global extreme weather events in the past century.

While typically low rainfall has played a role in the water crisis in Johannesburg, collapsing infrastructure and poor resource management have contributed to water storage levels plummeting below 30%, leaving millions without access to water for weeks.

Currently, an estimated 30% to 50% of all distributed water is lost through pipeline leaks, worsening the water crisis, with only 2% of national water resources remaining for lawful use.

To address some of the challenges, Rand Water initiated extensive maintenance of its bulk water infrastructure from June 22 to July 29 across Gauteng, which has temporarily exacerbated the challenge in some areas amid reduced water supply and breakdowns.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), in a statement on June 28, said that Rand Water’s planned maintenance programme resulted in a partial reduction in the amount of water that it can supply to Gauteng municipalities.

“Unfortunately, the situation has been exacerbated by several major breakdowns which have occurred at the same time as the planned maintenance,” the DWS comments, pointing to an electrical power failure at Rand Water’s Zwartkopjes booster pumping station, which occurred on June 26, and a major burst pipe in the City of Johannesburg on June 25, which affected its ability to supply the Illovo Reservoir. Both have since been repaired and the pumping station is running at full capacity.

The DWS reiterated that the supply-demand relationship for treated water in Gauteng is very tight, largely owing to rising demand for water amid rapid population growth in the province.