Cash-strapped Joburg needs millions and 9 months to fix water pipes in one of its oldest suburbs

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21-02-2024
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News 24
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• Johannesburg will have to spend millions to replace 70-year-old water infrastructure in a single suburb.
• The "Denbigh Road disaster" in Parkwood sparked the infrastructure overhaul.
• A city official said just replacing the water pipes would cost R103 million. 

Nine months and hundreds of millions of rand are needed to repair the broken water infrastructure in Parkwood, one of Johannesburg's oldest suburbs.

The most notable sign of broken pipes in the suburb is the "Denbigh Road disaster", a massive 18-month-old leak the city had "repaired" 15 times.

Fed-up with the most recent failed repair, residents in the leafy suburb staged a peaceful protest on 11 February, during which they discussed embarking on a "rates holiday" to force the city to fix the problem.

The following day, officials arrived and promised to repair the pipe - once and for all. 

City manager Floyd Brink made directives for immediate action, which included filling in the excavation site, monitoring the site for leaks, and reinstating the road. 

But a proper repair would mean fixing the entire suburb, one of the oldest in Johannesburg.

Brink said the 13km of pipes were 70 years or older.

On Monday, Ward 117 councillor Tim Truluck said the Parkwood Pipe Replacement Project, mothballed a few years ago, "has been dusted off and is currently being updated".

Truluck said new bulk lines would be installed on Bath, Wells, Denbigh and Dorset Roads, with smaller lines running throughout the suburb.

He said the work on Dorset Road would require a water licence application and would be done at a later date.

"A contracted Johannesburg Water engineering company will be used for the project, which means there will be a better standard of work," Truluck said.

The councillor said R45 million had been set aside for the project.

But, on Tuesday, Johannesburg COO Tshepo Makola told News24 that just replacing just the water pipes in Parkwood would cost R103 million.

"We're not talking about the reinstatement [of the road] and other repairs [needed on top of fixing the pipes]," he said.

Makola was speaking at a briefing on the commencement of the Lilian Ngoyi Street repairs.

The street was damaged after a methane gas explosion on 19 July.

Makola said the city was aware of the problems in Parkwood because many of the older water pipes were bursting, including some of those exposed in the excavation under Lilian Ngoyi Street.

"Parkwood is one of the oldest suburbs [in the city] and still has the metal water pipes – they are over 50 years old."

He said the city was replacing all metal pipes with new materials, like plastic, PVC and cement, in the case of sewage pipes.

The COO said the city was focusing on a two-step approach to fix its broken infrastructure.

The first was to collect outstanding revenue from residents and businesses in the city.

The second step was to channel this revenue into repairing and upgrading infrastructure.

Makola said the City of Johannesburg consumed most of Rand Water's bulk supply.

He said the city was losing revenue because of leaks caused by the broken infrastructure and non-payment by residents and businesses.

He reiterated that, when the water revenue was low, the city could not fix its infrastructure and thus would lose more water in a cycle.

Last week, News24 reported that the cost to fix and replace the water backlog was R24 billion, and non-paying water consumers owed Johannesburg Water R29.1 billion.

Johannesburg Water spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala said the renewal backlog was because of underfunding, "which further causes premature failure of municipal assets".

Meanwhile, Truluck said the Parkwood Pipe Replacement Project would start in April, "but the full project requires budget allocation in 2024/25 financial year".

"It is estimated that it will take nine months but expect the unexpected and the usual delays and time overruns," Truluck said.

"It will be inconvenient at times, but it should resolve the constant bursts resulting in water outages in Parkwood."