A City of Johannesburg Press Statement by
the MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Cllr Nico de Jager
Johannesburg Water upgrades infrastructure to put an end to sewer blockages
04 October 2019
Release: immediate
I am pleased to announce that Johannesburg Water, the City of Johannesburg’s water utility, will replace 3,7km of sewer pipe using through open trench and pipe cracking installation projects by the end of December 2019.
These projects form part of the strategic Pipe Replacement Plan by Johannesburg Water to ensure refurbishment of ageing infrastructure, resulting in improved service delivery to our residents.
The upgrades will include the use of 160mm and 200mm diameter uPVC. HDPE pipes will be installed using the open trench and pipe-cracking methods of installation at a cost of just over R9 million.
It is estimated that on average Johannesburg Water’s annual pipe replacement should amount to R415 million for water and R435 million for sewer in order to meet the pipe renewal target of replacing 1.5% of its asset value per year. To meet this demand going forward, Johannesburg Water plans on investing more in the pipe replacement programmes.
The City is working towards replacing the water and sewer network infrastructure pipes across Johannesburg that has a remaining useful life of under two years. This will be done at a cost of R2.8 billion.
During the 2018/19 financial year, 61 928 sewer blockages were experienced in the system, this is also a decline from the 62 835 sewer blockages.
In the past three years, we have managed to replace a total of 191 km and 99 km of water and sewer network respectively.
Furthermore, through the Preventative Maintenance Programme, 1 500km of sewer pipes have been cleaned compared to just over 1 000km in the previous financial year.
This critical programme will ensure that the number of bursts per km and the number of blockages per km is reduced, which will result in improved levels of service to residents across the City.
Therefore, I urge residents to help take care of the sewer infrastructure in Joburg by not flushing or inserting foreign objects into the sewer network.
