As the City of Johannesburg grapples with a persistent water crisis, a bigger question took centre stage on Thursday, 3 September 2026 at JBS Park: Is there a way out? Our City News and the Johannesburg Business School (JBS), in partnership with other stakeholders, brought together leading voices from the water, governance and environmental sectors for the inaugural Johannesburg Dialogues. The conversation aimed to explore what is driving the city’s water challenges, what needs to change and how everyone can play a role in securing a reliable water supply.
Moderated by renowned broadcaster Tim Modise, the expert panellists were Dr Ferial Adam, Executive Director at WaterCAN, Professor Mike Muller from the Wits School of Governance and Professor Lee-Ann Modley, Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg. Together, they moved beyond the immediate frustration of dry taps and water outages to examine the deeper systems behind the crisis, unpacking the interconnected challenges facing the city’s water system and the changes needed to build a system that can serve its people, withstand future pressures and remain secure for generations to come.
Opening the dialogue, Professor Alistair Mokoena, Executive Dean at JBS, emphasised the importance of creating spaces where pressing challenges can be openly discussed and explored through different perspectives to find practical solutions.
He described the purpose of the partnership as “creating these platforms for conversation with leaders across different industries and parts of society, to really just bring sharp insights on the issues that are vexing us and challenging us, and all these opportunities that flow from information exchange.”
Dr Adam and Prof Muller agreed that the city’s water challenges cannot be solved by infrastructure interventions only.
Dr Adam argued that the crisis should not be viewed simply as an engineering or water-service-delivery problem. Instead, she described it as a complex and interconnected challenge involving governance, corruption, climate change, pollution, financial pressures and the management of water resources.
“But I think when we look at the water crisis in South Africa, we need to stop looking at it as just an engineering problem, but that water service delivery problem is a systemic issue. What we’re facing is a water poly-crisis,” she said.
Prof Muller argued that solving the crisis requires strengthening the institutions responsible for delivering water. While the city has plans and professionals capable of addressing its challenges, he said they need the resources, authority and professional freedom to do so.
“We need to have the resources, and we need to allow the organisation to do that. We’ve got to have the organisations in place, with the people, with the powers, with the discipline to be able to do the job.”
Together, their perspectives concluded that lasting water security will require more than repairing the infrastructure. It will also depend on effective institutions, sustainable funding, accountability and the ability of qualified professionals to implement solutions.
Prof Modley took the conversation beyond the city’s broken pipes and reservoirs, warning that the issue is also an environmental crisis. She discussed the failing state of the city’s rivers and the impact of failing wastewater treatment systems, which allow pollution to enter waterways and damage the ecosystems that support life.
“70% of the wastewater treatment plants are severely degraded and don’t function properly. This significant impact on the environment is not often spoken about, but it has significant implications for the health of people and the environment they live in.”
She argued that water security depends on protecting the systems that sustain it. And affirmed that government, businesses and communities all have a role to play in preventing pollution, enforcing environmental regulations and protecting the water resources the city depends on.
This inaugural Johannesburg Dialogue marked the beginning of a broader effort to bring people together to confront pressing societal issues. With water insecurity already disrupting everyday life, the dialogue highlighted the importance of collective action in finding solutions that serve the people of Johannesburg.
