Gauteng loses or fails to account for about 48% of its water, Deputy Water and Sanitation Minister Jack Bloom has said. He said this highlights the need for urgent interventions to address leaking infrastructure, inaccurate billing, and water theft.

Speaking yesterday in Boksburg, Bloom said physical water losses through burst and leaking pipes alone amount to an estimated 431 billion litres annually.

“At Rand Water rates, this is about R7 billion a year, and at municipal rates, it is probably more than double this figure, so at least R14 billion is revenue lost to municipalities,” he said.

He said Johannesburg records non-revenue water of about 49%, while Tshwane stands at 45%, and Ekurhuleni at about 30%. “The worst non-revenue water is at Emfuleni (over 70%) and Mogale [Krugersdorp], which is over 60%,” Bloom said.

The government has set a target to bring national non-revenue water down to below 25% by 2035. Bloom said Gauteng will need to roughly halve its current water losses to meet the national target, adding that municipalities cannot afford to delay interventions until the deadline.

Other government targets include smart meters for 80% of urban households by 2032, and, by 2035, investment in water services infrastructure of at least 0.75% of GDP.

Bloom said that there would be an independent economic regulator for water, which would be created by 2029. This regulator would separate “regulation from the department’s other roles. Grants must fund repairs and renewal, not only new projects, because too many new projects fall into disrepair when they are not maintained,” Bloom said.

“Every leak fixed and every meter read correctly brings water to people who don’t currently have it,” he said.