Borehole water collection in Johannesburg. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Gautrain services between Rosebank and Park Station were halted on 15 February, when an illegal borehole caused water and soil seepage into the underground tunnel.
Gauteng residents have interrupted water provision because of intermittent supply, excessive use and ageing infrastructure. The situation is so dire that Rand Water has warned of a system collapse and has urged consumers in Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni to reduce consumption because storage levels have dropped at an alarming rate.
According to a system status report released by Johannesburg Water, 28 out of 61 reservoirs and towers are either critically low or empty, and 350 areas have been affected by outages. In October 2024, Rand Water issued a statement warning of “a real risk of supply depletion” unless municipalities reduce water losses, repair leaks and address illegal activities. A large portion of the limited supply available is being wasted, with Rand Water already extracting at maximum levels. Improperly maintained ageing infrastructure and delays in key projects are also contributing to the crisis.
As a result, boreholes have become to the water crisis what private rooftop solar panels are to load-shedding for consumers with the purchasing power.
In 2016, Johannesburg Water partnered with the Borehole Water Association to encourage residents to switch to boreholes to save water. The City of Johannesburg has also encouraged those living in more affluent areas to install boreholes to increase the availability of municipal water for other consumers.
The City of Johannesburg’s Land Use Scheme requires written consent from the municipality to install a borehole and the application form is available on the city’s website. Furthermore, municipal engineers and the environmental infrastructure service department must assess whether the proposed borehole would affect infrastructure. Section 46 of the Gauteng Transport Infrastructure Act also provides that no person may make a structural alteration below the surface of a provincial road without the permission.
But illegal boreholes are increasingly being drilled. The long wait times for municipal consent and poor enforcement of bylaws is concerning.
Gautrain Management Agency chief executive Tshepo Kgobe said the disruption caused by the illegally drilled borehole is expected to cost more than R1 million in short-term, temporary repairs. Commuters were inconvenienced, buses had to be laid on and there was also the additional loss of revenue for Gautrain.
The incident is a stark reminder of a much bigger issue: infrastructure does not exist in a vacuum, and when one sector starts to fail, there are knock-on effects on other parts of society.
Water is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. On 27 August 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa approved the South African National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency SOC Limited Bill, aimed at establishing the South African National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency. The agency’s purpose is to manage and secure funding for national resources infrastructure more efficiently.
During his 2025 State of the Nation address, Ramaphosa acknowledged the growing water crisis. He said the Infrastructure Fund has secured R23 billion for seven large water infrastructure projects, the agency would be established within the year to increase investment in projects and the Water Services Amendment Bill would introduce a licensing system for service providers and remove licenses where providers fail to meet standards for quality drinking water.
Public and private attention has been largely focused on solving the country’s electricity crisis over the past decade. The Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme is an example of the change that can occur when government and private actors work together towards a common goal. The country must now turn its collective attention to improving water infrastructure, which could follow a similar model. The United Arab Emirates has implemented an independent water producer programme where the private sector is contracted to develop, operate and maintain reverse osmosis plants and enter into water purchase agreements with the relevant state-owned entity.
The department of water and sanitation manages South Africa’s water resources through policy, regulation and bulk water management, while municipalities deliver water services to their residents. Any water equivalent of the independent power producer programme would probably rely on these two bodies to improve water-related services and infrastructure.
In January 2023, the water department committed to fostering more public-private partnerships to develop mega-infrastructure projects, but there has been limited appetite for large-scale public-private partnerships. If a focused programme similar to the power producer programme were introduced, it would not only address concerns about water security but also attract investment and stimulate economic growth.
A trend in the water and sanitation space is the use of performance-based contracts to address issues such as leak management and increased connectivity. The focus of public-private partnerships is on knowledge and skills transfer, meaning that the public sector runs day-to-day operations of a utility but benefits from private sector expertise.
However, the Constitution states that water supply is a municipal function and therefore poses a challenge to implementing large-scale public-private partnerships. There is the possibility of individual municipalities running programmes akin to the power producer programme within their jurisdiction, but the potential for municipal mismanagement and the lack of requisite resources and knowledge would make it a difficult solution to implement. What is clear, however, is that proper water management should be at the top of both the government and the private sector’s agenda for the foreseeable future.
Danielle van der Vaart is a senior associate and Kiera Bracher an associate at Webber Wentzel.