Faulty Towers
Water supply issues in the City of Joburg have the potential to become the new loadshedding. For months, people in the country’s economic hub have been battling irregular water supply and low pressure. Some suburbs go for days without water.
Authorities have told residents to curb their water use, but people feel powerless in the face of what seems to be becoming an increasingly serious problem. The Outlier is collecting data about the water outages to help residents get a sense of the scope of the problem and who is affected.
Joburg Water System
1. Use the map below to see which water systems, reservoirs, towers, feeds or pump stations feed your suburb.
2. Use the searchable table to find Joburg water notices that mention your suburb or the water infrastructure that might affect your suburb.
3. Not sure what a direct feed is? Or what 'throttling' means? Our FAQs are here to answer some of your questions about Joburg's water systems.
Search the table for Joburg Water's notices that affect your suburb
| Issue Type | JW Notice | Suburbs Affected | Water Facilities Affected |
|---|---|---|---|
Planned maintenance 📆 25 Feb 2025 → 📆 No end date |  Click to enlarge | Sandown | No facility information. |
Reservoir levels 📆 21 Feb 2025 → 📆 21 Feb 2025 |  Click to enlarge | No suburbs provided, use the map tool above to see which facilities affect your suburb | Hursthill 1 Reservoir |
Reservoir levels 📆 21 Feb 2025 → 📆 21 Feb 2025 |  Click to enlarge | No suburbs provided, use the map tool above to see which facilities affect your suburb | Aeroton ReservoirAlexander Park ReservoirProtea Glen ReservoirForest Hill Tower |
Reservoir levels 📆 21 Feb 2025 → 📆 21 Feb 2025 |  Click to enlarge | No suburbs provided, use the map tool above to see which facilities affect your suburb | Zondi ReservoirJabulani ReservoirOrlando East Reservoir |
Reservoir levels 📆 20 Feb 2025 → 📆 20 Feb 2025 |  Click to enlarge | Lenasia SouthZakariya ParkLehaeVlakfonteinFinetownMeritingMagson Manor | Lenasia Hospital Hill ReservoirLenasia High Level Reservoir |
Reservoir levels 📆 20 Feb 2025 → 📆 20 Feb 2025 |  Click to enlarge | No suburbs provided, use the map tool above to see which facilities affect your suburb | Hursthill 1 Reservoir |
Reservoir levels 📆 20 Feb 2025 → 📆 20 Feb 2025 |  Click to enlarge | No suburbs provided, use the map tool above to see which facilities affect your suburb | Yeoville ReservoirProtea Glen ReservoirForest Hill TowerAlexander Park Reservoir |
Reservoir levels 📆 20 Feb 2025 → 📆 20 Feb 2025 |  Click to enlarge | No suburbs provided, use the map tool above to see which facilities affect your suburb | Lawley ReservoirLenasia Hospital Hill ReservoirLenasia High Level ReservoirJabulani Reservoir |
Throttling 📆 20 Feb 2025 → 📆 21 Feb 2025 |  Click to enlarge | Glen AustinGrand Central | Orange Farm ReservoirLawley ReservoirLenasia High Level ReservoirLenasia Hospital Hill ReservoirPresident Park ReservoirDiepsloot ReservoirConstantia Kloof TowerCosmo City ReservoirMeadowlands ReservoirRobertville ReservoirHursthill 2 ReservoirBerea ReservoirBrixton ReservoirOrlando East ReservoirDiepkloof ReservoirNorthcliff ReservoirZondi ReservoirDoornkop ReservoirSouth Hills Pump StationConstantia Kloof Pump StationCrown Gardens Pump StationHorison Pump StationIllovo Pump StationSwart and Vuurlerie Booster Pump StationHector Norris Pump StationYeoville Pump StationWhiteridge North Direct FeedVan Lil Rand Water Direct FeedGustav Road Rand Water Direct FeedNick Toomy Rand Water Direct FeedFleurhof Reservoir |
Reservoir levels 📆 20 Feb 2025 → 📆 20 Feb 2025 |  Click to enlarge | No suburbs provided, use the map tool above to see which facilities affect your suburb | Hursthill 1 Reservoir |
Johannesburg Water buys its water from Rand Water, which pumps it through pump stations like Eikenhof, Palmiet and Zwartkopjes to systems of reservoirs and towers in Johannesburg. These reservoirs and towers then supply water to businesses and households.
Johannesburg Water publishes notices on issues that affect its customers but there is no publicly available map of which water systems affect which customers.
According to the latest Johannesburg Water Annual Report, there are 129 reservoirs and towers. Publicly available lists from Johannesburg Water show only 85 reserves and towers. We have managed to find 90 reservoirs and towers. We also have some information on the systems that make up the Lenasia, Randburg/Roodepoort and Soweto systems but this information is incomplete. To match Joburg Water’s list of suburbs served by reservoirs, towers and direct feeds, we’ve also merged extensions, zones and agricultural holdings into the suburbs that share the same name.
Our table of notices is scraped from Joburg Water's website and their X (Twitter) account and updated once a day at 10am.
Cover photo: Johannesburg Water E-rand Reservoir, Midrand, South Africa, Wikipedia
