Johannesburg’s leaking pipes cost R71.5 million every day

Johannesburg loses 655 million litres of water every day to leaking water pipes, which, at the residential tariff rate, amounts to R71.5 million in water tariff revenue. 

This is a major driver of the city’s financial troubles, with revenue not being collected on lost water, and it creates water shortages. 

These water shortages are entirely preventable, with Johannesburg receiving enough water from Rand Water to meet its consumption. 

However, a large portion of the water supplied by Rand Water does not reach the end user due to leaks and illegal connections. 

The Centre for Risk Analysis (CRA) recently said that these leakages also pose a major threat with the looming record El Niño weather event. 

The organisation said that South Africa is better placed for the coming El Niño than many suggest. Some have warned that the once-in-a-500-year event will result in multi-trillion-dollar losses. 

A record 2025-26 maize crop, full dams, and low food inflation give South Africa an unusually strong buffer. 

This does not mean South Africa will avoid the effects of the El Niño weather event, with parts of the country dangerously exposed. 

The CRA said the main areas of concern are the dry Western Cape, the City of Johannesburg, and South Africa’s neighbours. 

While the Western Cape’s crisis is a force of nature, driven by a dry winter and a long summer, Johannesburg’s is entirely its own making. 

National dam levels in Gauteng and the regions that supply it are at 95% of capacity, providing the city with an adequate buffer for a dry summer. 

However, 28% of households in the city experienced water outages lasting 48 hours or longer over the past year. 20% lost supply for 15 days or more. 

This points to a major issue in delivering water from the bulk supply to the end user, with a large portion lost en route. 

Nationally, 47.3% of water is lost en route to the end user. Johannesburg is in a worse position, with losses reaching 50%.

This means that half of the city’s water is lost before it reaches the end user due to leaks, theft, and poor metering. 

The CRA noted that Johannesburg loses 655 million litres of water a day to burst pipes alone. This is a third of its total supply from Rand Water. 

Under the commercial water tariff rate of R63.85 per kilolitre in Johannesburg, this amounts to R48.1 million in revenue lost per day by the city. 

Using the residential scale, R71.5 million of revenue is lost daily. This can be seen in the table below.