10 March 2026
A recycler works along the banks of the Jukskei River in Johannesburg, collecting recyclable waste. Photos: Seth Thorne
Along the banks of the Jukskei River in Alexandra, Johannesburg, a man wades through murky water searching for bottles and scrap to sell.
He says his name is Petrus and prefers not to have his surname published.
“The water smells very bad,” he says. “Luckily, there are always things to recycle coming down the river, so I try to collect,” he said. “It gets dangerous after it rains as the water gets rough.”
Across Gauteng, rivers carry untreated sewage, industrial waste and toxic chemicals through densely populated communities before draining into larger river systems that feed dams such as the Vaal and Hartbeespoort.
River pollution in the province has become an environmental and public health crisis, driven by failing wastewater treatment works, ageing sewage infrastructure, rapid urbanisation, illegal dumping, industrial runoff and pollution from mining.
Major rivers including the Jukskei, Klip and Hennops, as well as parts of the Vaal River system, now carry loads of sewage, solid waste, heavy metals and other contaminants. In many areas this has resulted in dangerous levels of E. coli and harmful algal blooms.
A December 2025 report by civil society group WaterCAN tested 59 water sources across Gauteng and found 39 were unsafe for human consumption.
Each sample was tested for chemical and microbiological contamination such as E. coli. The sources were classified as unsafe when these levels exceeded acceptable limits.
Looking specifically at bacterial contamination, WaterCAN analysed 23 river samples and five dam samples across Gauteng. Unsafe levels of coliform bacteria were found in 21 river samples and all five dam samples. When specifically testing for E. coli, 18 river samples and all five dam samples were found to be unsafe.
Yet for many residents living along these waterways, rivers remain part of daily life, used for washing, fishing, religious practice and recreation.
WaterCAN called for urgent action by municipal and provincial authorities to investigate pollution sources, implement regular and transparent water-quality monitoring, provide emergency clean water in high-risk areas, and run community awareness campaigns on safe water use and reporting contamination.
A bridge over the Jukskei River.
Water management expert Anthony Turton says South Africa’s water legislation recognises the importance of protecting rivers.
In 1994, the country passed the National Water Act, which recognises that rivers must have enough clean water to sustain healthy ecosystems and requires degraded rivers to be rehabilitated.
“This is a noble ideal that has quite obviously not been applied to any distressed river in the country,” says Turton.
He says Gauteng is now experiencing a “systemic failure in the water sector, most notably in the four metros”.
Turton warned that the overall condition of the Vaal River, which supplies much of Gauteng’s drinking water, is deteriorating rapidly due to eutrophication, largely driven by pollution entering the system. Eutrophic water can trigger the growth of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, which release toxins harmful to people and livestock.
The recent spread of water lettuce in the Vaal, he said, marks a new stage of ecological decline, with the plant spreading across the surface much faster than expected. Turton said the Vaal has reached levels of floating vegetation in about a decade that took about 70 years in the Hartbeespoort Dam, suggesting an environmental crisis that could outpace the capacity of institutions to respond.
Part of the problem lies in failing wastewater treatment works.
Environmental activist Tarryn Johnston, founder of the Hennops River Revival initiative, said the current state of Gauteng’s rivers is “disastrous because they cannot manage the rate of sewage coming in, leading to rivers of disease”.
She said efforts to get municipalities to “take the crisis seriously” have been “more than tough”.
A filthy stream in the Jukskei system.
Responsibility for wastewater management lies largely with local government, which must also enforce by-laws controlling dumping and industrial effluent.
Provincial authorities assist by investigating complaints and issuing environmental directives, while the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) regulates wastewater treatment and river discharges.
DWS spokesperson Wisane Mavasa said four municipalities in Gauteng currently operate wastewater systems performing below a minimum 31% threshold: Merafong City, Rand West City, Mogale City and Lesedi.
Underperforming systems discharge unacceptable levels of untreated effluent into freshwater systems that ultimately feed the Vaal Dam – a major source of drinking water for millions of Gauteng residents. Because earlier administrations have failed to enforce measures to produce improvements, the department has instituted criminal proceedings against these municipalities.
Other facilities in Gauteng such as the Goudkoppies treatment works also continue to pollute the river systems, and, Mavasa noted, wastewater systems in other provinces also affect the rivers.
The Goudkoppies wastewater treatment works in southern Johannesburg continues to discharge raw effluent into catchments feeding the Klip River. In some stretches of the river, the water foams.
Monitoring of the Klip River has also revealed environmental concerns, including non-compliance with E. coli and endosulfan (a pesticide) levels.
Mavasa said that despite directives and notices issued to the City of Johannesburg, effluent quality at Goudkoppies has not reached acceptable levels, prompting the department to finalise a criminal docket for submission to the National Prosecuting Authority.
Despite deteriorating river conditions, Turton said that Rand Water, which treats water before it is supplied to Gauteng municipalities, does meet the SANS 241 drinking water standard.
The Klip River, used by farms and communities along its banks, foams from raw sewage discharged from the nearby Goudkoppies sewage plant.
DWS has introduced a Waste Mitigation Charge, currently being piloted in the Jukskei, Hennops and Wonderfonteinspruit catchments.
The charge targets industries and institutions that release waste into rivers, including mines, factories and underperforming municipal waste treatment works.
Based on the polluter-pays principle, it shifts the cost of environmental damage away from taxpayers onto those responsible for contaminating water resources.
Authorities are extending this to some of the country’s most polluted catchments, including the Vaal River system and Hartbeespoort Dam, said Mavasa.
Revenue from the charge is ring-fenced for water rehabilitation projects.
Gauteng MEC for the Environment Ewan Botha said river rehabilitation is primarily the responsibility of municipalities and national government, but the province supports their efforts through coordination and community initiatives such as the Expanded Public Works Programme clean-ups.
“Protecting Gauteng’s rivers cannot be done by one sphere of government alone. It requires coordinated action between national, provincial and local government,” he said.
But while policy debates and enforcement actions continue, thousands of people across Gauteng live alongside waterways that have become increasingly contaminated by sewage and waste.
Pollution and illegal dumping at streams leading to the Klip River.
