Proposed raw-water charges have completed consultation but are not yet approved. They apply upstream in the water value chain and are not household retail tariffs.
South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation has completed consultation on proposed raw-water charges for the 2027/28 financial year, but the recommended amounts are not yet approved tariffs.
The national consultation on 27 August followed sector-specific meetings and brought together bulk-water institutions, mining and industrial users, forestry, irrigation organisations and other affected parties. The department says the recommended charges will now go to the Minister of Water and Sanitation for consideration and approval.
Only after approval will the charges be published in the Government Gazette and on the department’s website. The approved raw-water charges are intended to apply from 1 April 2027, while the approved Water Research Levy would take effect from 1 July 2027.
The distinction between proposal and approval is important for municipal planners, farmers, mines, manufacturers and households. The department’s 28 August statement did not publish the recommended rand amounts, and it would be premature to calculate a customer bill or business-cost increase from the consultation announcement alone.
Raw water is untreated water taken from rivers, dams, boreholes, springs or government waterworks before the treatment and distribution stages that deliver potable water to customers.
The Department of Water and Sanitation’s pricing framework applies to the use and management of water resources and government waterworks. It is therefore different from the retail tariff on a household or business municipal bill.
The water value chain can include several stages: managing a river system or catchment, operating a dam or transfer scheme, moving untreated water to a bulk supplier, treating it, distributing bulk potable water to a municipality and reticulating it to individual properties. Costs and tariffs can arise at more than one point.
A change in an upstream raw-water charge can affect the cost base of a bulk user or water institution. It does not automatically translate into the same percentage change on every household bill. Municipal tariffs also reflect treatment, distribution, maintenance, losses, local infrastructure, service costs, free-basic-water policies and the municipality’s own legally approved tariff process.
The department says the 2027/28 proposals contain three main components.
Water Resource Management Charges contribute to managing and protecting water resources. The consultation covered the six Catchment Management Agencies named by the department: Inkomati-Usuthu, Pongola-uMzimkhulu, Mzimvubu-Tsitsikamma, Limpopo-Olifants, Breede-Olifants and Vaal-Orange.
Water Resource Infrastructure Charges relate to the development, operation and use of waterworks. The department presented these across four user groupings: industry and mining, strategic users, municipal users and agriculture.
The Water Research Levy supports water research and was presented for agriculture, stream-flow reduction activities, and domestic and industry users. In the department’s description, the domestic-and-industry grouping includes strategic, municipal, and industry-and-mining users.
These labels identify parts of the pricing structure; they are not a published price list. The applicable amount may differ by scheme, catchment, infrastructure and user category. Businesses should wait for the approved schedules and identify the exact line that applies to their registered use or supply arrangement.
Water boards, municipalities, mines, factories, irrigators, forestry operations and other large users may need to incorporate approved charges into financial and operating plans.
The right preparation step is not to assume a percentage. It is to map the organisation’s water arrangements: which resource or scheme supplies it, who issues the raw-water bill, which user category applies, how much water is authorised or consumed and what later bulk or retail tariff decisions follow.
Municipalities have an additional governance chain. The Department of Water and Sanitation’s raw-water decision sits upstream, while municipal revenue and tariff decisions are subject to the Municipal Finance Management Act, the Water Services Act and local budget processes. Consultation on a bulk-resource increase does not replace a council’s responsibility to approve and publish its own tariffs lawfully.
Businesses that receive water only through a municipal account should not assume they will be directly billed by the national department. They should monitor the municipality’s later budget and tariff documents for any downstream effect.
Direct raw-water users should check the Water Authorisation and Registration Management System pages, their licence or registration details and the final gazetted schedule. Classification errors can matter when charges vary by sector or scheme.
Section 56 of the National Water Act allows the Minister, with the concurrence of the Minister of Finance, to establish a pricing strategy for water use. The framework is intended to help fund water-resource management, water-resource development and the use of waterworks.
That can include the institutional and infrastructure work needed to protect catchments, operate systems and support reliable supply. A tariff is not evidence that a specific new dam, repair or local service improvement has been approved. Users should separate the purpose of a charge category from claims about individual projects.
The annual process also matters because water institutions and businesses need price certainty before a new financial year. Consultation lets affected sectors challenge assumptions, present economic evidence and raise affordability or operational concerns before recommendations reach the Minister.
It does not guarantee that every submission will be accepted or that the recommended charges will remain unchanged.
Once the Gazette and departmental schedules are published, affected users should verify:
Comparisons should be made against the correct 2026/27 approved charge for the same scheme and category. Comparing unlike regions or user groups can produce a misleading increase.
For households, the practical source remains the municipality’s approved budget and tariff book. For direct and bulk users, the Gazette, departmental schedule and account classification are the controlling records.
The current position is therefore straightforward: consultation is complete, recommendations have been prepared, ministerial approval is still required and no final 2027/28 price should be claimed from the announcement alone.
Department of Water and Sanitation via South African Government,
Water and Sanitation concludes consultation process on 2027/28 Raw Water Use Charges
, 28 August 2026.
Department of Water and Sanitation,
Pricing Strategy for Raw Water Use Charges
, current public framework page.
Department of Water and Sanitation,
Raw Water Charges 2026/27
, current approved-charge archive and schedules.
Department of Water and Sanitation,
National Water Act — Chapter 5 financial provisions
, section 56 pricing framework.
