The Auditor-General warned that the continued failure to invest in preventative maintenance was placing pressure on Johannesburg Water's finances while increasing the risk of service delivery failures for residents.
Water outages have become an increasingly familiar part of life for Johannesburg residents. Sometimes there is warning, with Johannesburg Water and Rand Water announcing planned maintenance days in advance.
Often there is not, with burst pipes, pump failures or reservoir problems leaving suburbs without running water for hours or even days. The problem is unlikely to disappear anytime soon.
The Auditor-General reached a similarly concerning conclusion in the latest audit of Johannesburg Water, finding that the utility had failed to maintain its water infrastructure proactively.
Instead of carrying out planned preventative maintenance, the entity increasingly relied on emergency repairs after pipes had already burst or infrastructure had failed.
