Image Source: Joburg Water
Local – Farah Domingo, spokesperson and founder of the Water Crisis Committee, is calling on the President to declare a national disaster and implement immediate government intervention to address Johannesburg’s escalating water crisis.
Large parts of the city have been living without reliable tap water for days—and in some cases weeks—forcing residents into long queues at water tankers and mounting social strain.
Civil society groups warn that Johannesburg is experiencing “day zero conditions” right now, driven by ageing infrastructure, supply constraints, and high demand.
Unlike Cape Town’s dramatic drought countdown, this crisis has unfolded without fanfare but with devastating impact on communities across the city.
The current crisis was triggered when an explosion at a Rand Water pumping station disrupted supply to Johannesburg Water’s reservoirs. Communication failures compounded the problem, with residents left in the dark about the cause of their dry taps.
“Rand water wasn’t pumping enough water into the system because they put out a statement that the municipalities weren’t paying them, so they were going to be throttling those specific municipalities,” Domingo said.
Understanding the Institutional Divide
The distinction between Rand Water and Johannesburg Water is crucial to understanding the crisis. Rand Water supplies clean water to municipalities, while Johannesburg Water manages distribution through the city’s infrastructure.
Decades of neglected maintenance have left the system unable to cope with demand.
Johannesburg’s population has grown approximately 80% over the past 25 years, while maintenance has been neglected. Domingo revealed the scale of the city’s infrastructure challenge.
“In various meetings that we’ve had with them where they have presented personally at the water forum, they need at least 2 billion a year to fix the infrastructure, and they just didn’t have those funds,” she said.
Urgent Demands for Action
The Water Crisis Committee has issued specific demands, including full public disclosure from Rand Water on the causes of the supply drop, daily area-specific updates from both Rand Water and Johannesburg Water, and coordination mechanisms across all government levels to ensure accountability.
“We would like the president to implement an immediate national government intervention so that the water supply collapse is declared a disaster, unlocking emergency capacity and funding,” Domingo stated.
The committee is preparing a letter to the President, hoping the water crisis will be addressed in his upcoming State of the Nation Address.
