Treasury norm: 15% to 30%
Share of water bought or purified that is lost before it is sold.
Note: non-revenue water, as the statements report it.
Source: eThekwini’s audited annual financial statements.
Water · KwaZulu-Natal
eThekwini
Is my water reliable? How much is lost? Is it safe?
58.7%
of the water bought or purified was lost before it was sold in 2024-25. Treasury’s norm is 15% to 30%.
Official: Audited annual financial statements · Data as of 2024-25 financial year (audited statements) · Next update expected Jan 2027 (2025-26 annual reports) · Last updated
Compare all eight metros: Water. An asterisk marks a figure our automated checks found inconsistent with another official figure; it is shown as reported, explained in a footnote and left out of rankings.
Water cut for two days or more
Official: Stats SA, General Household Survey 2025 · Data as of General Household Survey 2025
512 000
households in eThekwini told Stats SA their water had been cut for 48 hours or more at a time in the past year, out of about 1 373 000 households.
Stats SA: “a smaller percentage of households in metropolitan areas reported water interruptions (30,0% compared with 37,6%). Water interruptions were most common in eThekwini (43,9%), which is almost six time more common than in the City of Cape Town (7,8%).”
Cut 2+ days: households that answered yes to a water cut of 48 hours or more at a time, in thousands as Stats SA prints them (Table 2.8: Water and sanitation variables by metro); all households from Table 3.7. A sample survey. Sources: GHS 2025: selected development indicators, metros (P0318.3); the quotation is from the main GHS 2025 release (P0318), section 9.3. For cuts happening now, see the city’s notices and community reports.
Water lost before it reaches a meter
Official: audited annual financial statements · Data as of 2024-25 financial year (audited statements) · Next update expected Jan 2027 (2025-26 annual reports) · Last updated
Water a metro buys or purifies but never bills: leaks, burst pipes, illegal connections and faulty meters. Treasury’s norm is 15% to 30%.
What these words mean
- Distribution losses
- Water or electricity a metro buys or produces but never bills: leaks, theft, illegal connections and faulty meters.
- Non-revenue water
- All water that earns no money, including water given free to poor households. Close to, but not the same as, water lost.
- Treasury norm
- A target National Treasury sets for every municipality in MFMA Circular 71, so metros can be compared on the same scale.
eThekwini’s dams
Official: uMngeni-uThukela Water · 9 Oct 2026 · Data as of see each reading’s date · Updates: daily or weekly, depending on the publisher · Last updated
90.0%
full across the Mgeni system’s dams on 9 Oct 2026, against 93.0% a year earlier.
eThekwini buys almost all its water from uMngeni-uThukela Water (eThekwini audited statements 2024-25, p.151). The Mgeni system total covers Spring Grove, Mearns, Midmar, Albert Falls, Nagle and Inanda dams. Each dam’s reading can be a day apart. Hazelmere Dam, which supplies the north, is not part of this system and is not shown. uMngeni-uThukela Water gives each dam’s level a year earlier; we also keep each update. Our record starts with this one. Source: uMngeni-uThukela Water, dam levels.
National reference: DWS weekly summary
Official: DWS weekly State of Reservoirs, copied 10 Oct 2026 · Data as of see the copy date · Updates: DWS publishes weekly; we copy by hand
90%
full: the Umgeni, eThekwini’s main water supply system. Last week 89%; a year ago 93%.
Almost all of eThekwini’s water is bought from Umgeni Water (audited statements 2024-25, p.151). Source
DWS: these summaries cover only the dams in its State of Reservoirs report. Several metros share a system: Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni all draw mainly on the Integrated Vaal River System. Each metro’s main system is confirmed from its own documents (source). The DWS site refuses automated requests, so these figures are copied by hand from its summary pages each week (copied 10 Oct 2026; the report’s own date was not copied). Source: DWS, weekly summary by water supply system.
eThekwini water, 2026
Umlazi was named in a water notice every month of 2026
20 city notices so far this year named a place in Umlazi: shutdowns, rationing, restrictions and supply cuts. Tap a month to see them.
January 2026 · 1 notice
February 2026 · 2 notices
March 2026 · 5 notices
April 2026 · 2 notices
May 2026 · 1 notice
June 2026 · 2 notices
July 2026 · 3 notices
August 2026 · 2 notices
September 2026 · 1 notice
October 2026 · 1 notice
Source: eThekwini press statements on durban.gov.za, matched to Umlazi by the places they name (Stats SA Census 2011 names; Malukazi counts as Umlazi X, the city’s own usage). Dashed months are still to come. Notices posted only on social media are not included. Read the story
55%
of the water eThekwini treats is never billed: lost to leaks, bursts and theft, or simply not charged for. Each hollow square is one litre in every hundred.
Annual average (Jul 2026). Source: The Post, 22 Jul 2026, citing city figures.
Water notices in your ward
111 wards in eThekwini · 2021 boundaries
eThekwini wards named most often in water notices
Notices since January 2025 naming a place in each ward. Source: eThekwini press statements on durban.gov.za; place names Stats SA Census 2011.
Search by name uses the wards of the 2021 local elections; the 2026 elections use new boundaries, and the address search gives both. Each 2021 ward page links to the 2026 wards that cover it. Suburb names are Stats SA Census 2011 sub-places and main places; Census 2022 names have not been published. Voting stations and results: Electoral Commission (IEC). A suburb can span more than one ward.
Still to come on this page
- Drinking-water and wastewater ratings. Department of Water and Sanitation, Blue Drop and Green Drop reports · ws.dws.gov.za and www.dws.gov.za refuse automated requests, including from GitHub’s servers