On 9 October 2026, Coca-Cola and a group of South African public-sector bodies committed a combined R500 million between 2026 and 2031 to a new South Africa Non-Revenue Water Mechanism, with the first pilot running in the City of Tshwane in Gauteng. The private sector is targeting R250 million, to be matched by another R250 million from public partners. The programme is framed as a response to the country losing an estimated 47% of its treated water before it reaches paying customers. (BusinessTech)
Key takeaways
- Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, Coca-Cola HBC and the Glocal Water Challenge are the private partners, aiming to mobilise R250 million between 2026 and 2031. (BusinessTech)
- Public partners pledging a matching R250 million are the Department of Water and Sanitation, Rand Water Services, the City of Tshwane, the Platform for a Water Secure Gauteng and the World Bank Group's 2030 Water Resources Group. (BusinessTech)
- South Africa loses about 47% of its treated water to pipe leaks, deteriorating infrastructure and non-revenue water. (BusinessTech)
- Phase one is a pilot in the City of Tshwane, covering Pretoria, Centurion, Akasia and surrounding areas, focused on pressure management and on industrial-effluent monitoring. (BusinessTech)
What happened
The agreement was announced following a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, with partners pledging R500 million over the 2026 to 2031 window, split evenly between private and public contributors. (BusinessTech)
“Water security is fundamental to South Africa’s economic growth, community resilience, and long-term sustainability,” said Coca-Cola Company Africa operating unit President Luis Felipe Avellar. (BusinessTech)
Phase one runs in the City of Tshwane and concentrates on two engineering tracks. The first is pressure management, installing automated valves and controls to regulate pressure in municipal pipes, since excessive pressure is linked to bursts and leaks in ageing networks. The second is monitoring of industrial effluents, the wastewater generated by factories and industrial facilities, with dedicated equipment intended to track volume and quality so that commercial users can be held to environmental compliance and billed for their share of municipal wastewater processing. (BusinessTech)
Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina welcomed the initiative on behalf of government, saying: “Through the work of the National Water Crisis Committee, we continue to drive collaborative solutions that strengthen municipal capacity and accelerate progress in addressing critical water challenges.” (BusinessTech)
Coca-Cola HBC, which has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, is also supporting the project. CEO Zoran Bogdanovic said collaboration between government, business and development organisations is inspiring and lays a foundation for improving water security across Africa. (BusinessTech)
Although the initial work is centred on Tshwane, the mechanism is being positioned as a repeatable model intended to align with the National Water Action Plan and to be extended to other municipalities over time. (BusinessTech)
Specification read
No treatment capacity, design flow, or pollutant load was reported for the pilot, and the supplied source does not give a plant class, so the scale cannot be converted to m³/day or population equivalent from this event alone. Buyers tracking the programme should treat the headline figure as a five-year capital pool of R500 million, evenly split between private and public partners, rather than a single procurement line item.
The pilot does not yet point at a full treatment train, but the two stated workstreams map onto discrete unit processes. Pressure management in a municipal network is a pumping, control-valve and SCADA package, not a treatment stage. Industrial-effluent monitoring is a sampling and pre-treatment issue for plants discharging to the Tshwane sewer: the relevant unit process for a discharging factory is screening and flow equalisation upstream of the municipal works, with biological treatment (typically activated sludge, MBBR, MBR or SBR), tertiary solids removal and disinfection downstream. A new effluent monitor at the discharge manhole is the procurement item a factory buyer should expect to see tied to this initiative.
If your plant in the City of Tshwane discharges process wastewater to the municipal sewer and you are suddenly asked to install or upgrade an on-site effluent meter and sampling line so the municipality can verify volume and quality, this is the programme that is driving that request. For procurement leads at beverage, food and other industrial sites in Municipal catchments, the practical implication is that discharge compliance data is about to become more visible, and tariff structures for trade effluent are more likely to be enforced against metered load.
Industrial buyers elsewhere in South Africa, including in the Food sector, should expect this kind of public-private monitoring model to be proposed in other metros, and should now be scoping the on-site hardware, data logging and access provisions that an Effluent Treatment Plant in Pretoria: 2026 Buyer's Guide for Industrial Plants is expected to carry. For context on the broader municipal treatment landscape, see Domestic Sewage Treatment in South Africa (2026 Guide) and the Effluent Treatment Plant in Port Elizabeth: 2026 Buyer's Guide.
FAQ
How much funding has been committed to the South Africa Non-Revenue Water Mechanism? Partners have pledged a combined R500 million between 2026 and 2031, with R250 million targeted from the private sector and a matching R250 million from public-sector partners. (BusinessTech)
Where will the first work take place? The pilot phase starts in the City of Tshwane in Gauteng, covering Pretoria, Centurion, Akasia and surrounding areas, with a focus on pressure management and industrial-effluent monitoring. (BusinessTech)
What is the first piece of equipment a discharging factory in Tshwane is likely to need? Based on the pilot’s focus on industrial-effluent monitoring, the expected procurement item is an on-site flow meter and sampler at the discharge point, so the municipality can verify volume and quality of trade effluent. (BusinessTech)
Will this programme be expanded beyond Tshwane? The partners describe the mechanism as a repeatable model intended to align with the National Water Action Plan and to be extended to other municipalities over time, though no second-site date or budget split was reported. (BusinessTech)
