JHB Water: in numbers

Established in 2001, Johannesburg Water is owned by the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and is tasked with the operation and maintenance of the water and sewer network.

JHB WATER: FAST FACTS

• Operational regions: 6

• Regional depots: 10

• Electromechanical depots: 4

• Wastewater treatment works

(1 043 Mℓ): 6

• R115 billion infrastructure replacement cost

• Average revenue: R12 million

• Staff: 2 786 (June 2022)

• 12 560 km water network

• 11 861 km sewer network

• 75 pump stations

• 129 reservoirs and towers

• Average daily water demand: 1 621 Mℓ

• Sewage treatment: 909 Mℓ/day

The Vaal Dam Pressure Management

Johannesburg Water has 765 pressure management zones within its entire water reticulation network. Only 22 are smart-controlled. According to the WC/ WDM (water conservation and demand management) strategy, a further 177 new pressure management zones will be established over the next 10 years. This will be done in a prioritised format to ensure the most beneficial zones are established first. A total of 37 of the new PRV (pressure-reducing valve) zones will be smart-controlled pressure management stations that will be either time- or flow-based.

Urban Migration And Informal Settlements

Over 5.7 million people live in CoJ, and this population increases by 2.49% a year. This means that next year, roughly 141 000 more people will move into the metro.

Currently, there are approximately 1.8 million households.

The number of informal settlements in Joburg rose from 179 (2012) to 312 (2022). These informal settlements must have water and sanitation services.

Partnerships with the private sector are of extreme importance to Johannesburg Water. This is because we need further investment into our infrastructure to meet increasing water demand. Our rate of investment into infrastructure is smaller than the rate of deterioration. For example, we would like to replace 925 km of pipes in the next five years (185 km/annum); we can only replace 117 km with our current funding. Water losses have increased from 24% in 2019 to 31% in 2022. The lack of capital investment has continued to have an impact on the infrastructure failure rate. The increase in the infrastructure failure rate has resulted in an increase in physical losses.”

Derrick Kgwale, COO, Johannesburg Water

Ageing Infrastructure

Johannesburg Water’s infrastructure assets have a current replacement cost of R115.4 billion. Its asset management plan dictates that a renewal rate of 2% per annum is required. Current expenditure patterns indicate an average renewal rate of 0.92% is achieved with current. Alarmingly, 25% of the asset base has a remaining useful life of less than 10 years.