Is the water on?

A neighbour-reported board of where taps are dry across Soweto right now — so you can tell whether it's just your yard or the whole area — with Johannesburg Water's daily notices and fault lines.

About these tools

Town Tools builds free, public tools for Soweto and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

Soweto's taps have been unreliable since the metro-wide crisis that began in January 2026 — reservoirs serving Meadowlands, Orlando East, Doornkop, Zondi and Power Park ran low or empty for days, and Johannesburg Water points to poor incoming bulk supply, high demand and ageing pipes.

This board is neighbours confirming to each other where the taps are dry right now. It is not Johannesburg Water's own status — their daily notices and the numbers below are the official channels. If your taps are dry, tap your area so your neighbours can see it isn't just their yard.

No water cuts reported right now.

Chiawelo
No reports
Diepkloof
No reports
Dlamini
No reports
Dobsonville
No reports · Including the extensions
Doornkop
No reports
Jabulani
No reports
Kliptown
No reports · Including the settlements along the Klipspruit
Mapetla
No reports
Meadowlands
No reports · All extensions
Moletsane
No reports
Naledi
No reports
Orlando East
No reports · Including Power Park
Orlando West
No reports
Pimville
No reports · All zones
Protea Glen
No reports · Including the extensions
Slovoville
No reports
Zola
No reports · Including Zola North
Zondi
No reports

How this works

These reports come from neighbours, not the water utility. Anyone can read the board; reporting no water takes a free account, which keeps it honest. A report clears itself after about 12 hours, so the board stays current on its own. When several people report the same sector, it’s likely the whole sector is dry — not just one tank.

The water utility — Johannesburg Water

The call centre is 011 688 1699 or 086 056 2874. You can also log a fault at customer.forcelink.net/joburg_water, email fault@jwater.co.za (water incidents only), or SMS 45201. Daily system updates are posted on the Daily Water Notices page and on the Johannesburg Water Facebook and X (@JHBWater) accounts — tanker deployments during outages are announced there too, not on a standing schedule.

Call 011 688 1699 Official page

Rural / community water — Joburg Connect (City of Johannesburg, 24 hours)

The city's all-services line — choose option 3 for Joburg Water. Open 24 hours, seven days a week.

Call 0860 562 874

Drinking water

When storage tanks may be contaminated, Johannesburg Water issues a boil-water advisory for the affected area — it did for Meadowlands Ext 1–13 and Zola North in January 2026. While an advisory is in force, boil drinking water or disinfect it before use, and only stop when Johannesburg Water says the advisory is lifted.