As water shortages and intermittent supply continue to affect households in Gauteng, Rand Water’s Group Chief Executive, Sipho Mosai indicates that South Africa is not facing a bulk water crisis, but rather maintenance recovery and other challenges further down the supply chain. Speaking at the latest PSG Think Big webinar, hosted by award-winning journalist, Alishia Seckam, Mosai also discussed various issues linked to rising pressure on South Africa’s water system such as ageing infrastructure, illegal connections and poor municipal governance.

Daily per capita water consumption in South Africa has surged to 290 litres. While this figure has raised concerns about sustainability, Mosai was quick to clarify that the issue lies not with bulk water supply, but with downstream distribution and consumption patterns.

“We don’t have a bulk water crisis,” he said. “What we as a bulk utility are putting to the system is way above the world average.”

Rand Water, the largest bulk water utility in Africa, supplies water to four provinces and is responsible for purifying and distributing large volumes of water which then sells it to municipalities, who are then expected to handle reticulation to end users. According to Mosai, the pressure on infrastructure from this high volume of water is being compounded by underinvestment in maintenance and high levels of water loss in the municipal space.

“The maintenance that we’re doing now is exactly that – we are going into our infrastructure to ensure its resilience,” he said. “And unfortunately, as we do so, we have to take certain systems out.”

Recent maintenance outages have triggered public frustration around poor communication and slow service restoration, but Mosai pushed back on suggestions of poor execution. “All the maintenance schedules were completed on time,” he said, adding that the challenge people are facing is around varying system recovery times.

“The system takes times to recover, and depending on where you are, it varies. Low lying areas normally receive water faster than high lying areas.”

He also clarified criticism about water quality, stating: “We supply some of the best drinking water in the world. We compare our water with the World Health Organisation standard; we check our water against and comply with the SANS 241 part of our commitment to supply safe drinking water to our consumers. So, if anybody tells you that the water quality from Rand Water is sub-standard, just take that as misinformation.”
Still, much of the public’s frustration stems from problems at municipal level, which Mosai acknowledged.

“At the distribution level, we have ageing infrastructure and high-water losses – it’s in the reports.” He referred to national water strategies and the Department of Water and Sanitation’s blue-drop, no-drop, and green-drop assessments as evidence of deep-rooted issues that are not within the sphere of Rand Water.

To address this, Rand Water has established special purpose vehicles with municipalities to tackle infrastructure failures and non-revenue water, which includes both technical losses and illegal connections.

He also welcomed ongoing legislative reforms that will allow for greater accountability in the system, including changes to who is permitted to provide water services.

In the meantime, Rand Water is moving ahead with large-scale capital projects.

“If you look at what we are investing in the next five years, from the bulk point of view, we’re talking R40 billion or so,” said Mosai.

This includes upgrades to wastewater treatment works and new capacity to meet future demand.

“We’re not going to be simply looking at maintenance; we’re also looking at building new infrastructure to meet future demands. For example, Station 5 Water Treatment Plant has been instrumental in boosting the overall capacity of Rand Water operations, enabling us to supply an increasing population and provide reliable water services during periods of high-water demand. A major milestone in Rand Water’s infrastructure renewal and augmentation strategy to ensure sustainable future water supply to its customers and municipalities across Gauteng.”

By the end of the 2025 financial year, Rand Water expects to have added 600 million litres of water into the system. “Last year, we added about 150 million litres of water into the system. We’re going to be adding an additional 450 million litres.”

Looking forward, Mosai says the prognosis looks good – at least at the bulk level. “We are already strategising about meeting the demands of 2031 in terms of the bulk water provision into the system. And for those that invest in Rand Water, we’re still maintaining Gross Profit and Net Profit margins.”

While much of the focus has been on back-end infrastructure, Mosai said public confidence ultimately depends on the entire value chain delivering water consistently.