The City of Cape Town's sewer pipe replacement programme has grown quickly from a low starting point. Replacement quadrupled from 25 km in 2021/22 to a target of 100 km a year. The City's annual targets are now 50 km of water pipes and 100 km of sewer pipes. Its own figures say Cape Town replaced three times more water and sewer pipe in 2024/25 than Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni combined, and has more than doubled its replacement rate in four years. The City says these replacements are mostly in lower-income communities and are meant to cut sewer spills and pipe bursts.
Funding has risen with the targets. Water and sanitation investment rose 223% over three years, from R2.3 billion in 2022/23 to R7.8 billion in 2025/26. For 2026/27, R5.4bn is set aside for water and sanitation infrastructure, and spending over three years will total R16.7bn, about 40% of the City's capital programme. The programme also covers bulk upgrades such as the Cape Flats sewer upgrade, described as South Africa's biggest, benefitting over 300 000 households. Wastewater expansions planned through 2039 are intended to support population growth and urban development.
This matters because ageing sewer networks are a major cause of overflows and spills, which are a public health and environmental risk. A renewal rate of 100 km a year against a network of thousands of kilometres means the renewal cycle is very long. Asset-management practice generally ties renewal to pipe age, condition and failure risk. The trade-off is that faster renewal costs more, and that money comes from tariffs, rates and national grants.
