A burst pipe or water main is reported to the municipality that supplies your water, not to a national number. Which municipality that is depends on your address, and reporting to the wrong one simply delays the repair.
ContactDetails.co.za is an independent directory. We are not any of the organisations named here and we cannot act on your behalf. What this page gives you is the correct order to do things in, and contact routes verified on each organisation’s own official site.
How to report a burst pipe
- Identify your municipality. It is the authority that issues your water and rates account, and its name appears on your municipal bill.
- Contact its fault line using the routes below, or the number printed on your bill if your municipality is not listed here.
- Give the exact location: street address or nearest cross street, and a landmark if the pipe is in a verge or open ground.
- Describe the flow and any hazard, such as water crossing a road, undermining a surface, or contact with electrical infrastructure.
- Ask for a reference number and keep it. Follow-up on an unrepaired leak is almost impossible without one.
When to treat it as an emergency
- Water is flowing across a road or undermining a road surface or foundation.
- There is any contact between water and electrical equipment, poles or substations.
- A main is discharging at high volume rather than seeping.
- Sewage is involved, which is a health hazard as well as a service fault.
- The area has lost water supply entirely, which suggests a main rather than a local pipe.
What to do next
Report it to the municipal fault line rather than a general enquiries number, because fault lines are staffed outside office hours and general lines usually are not. If water is near electrical infrastructure, treat it as an emergency and say so when reporting.
Before you contact anyone, have this ready
- Your account, policy or reference number for the organisation concerned.
- The exact address or location the query relates to.
- Dates: when the problem started and when you first made contact.
- Any reference number you have already been issued.
- A pen and paper for the new reference. Ask for one every time.
Verified metro water and fault routes
These routes were verified against each organisation’s own official contact page during August 2026. Contact numbers do change, so confirm on the official page before relying on one for anything urgent.
| Organisation | Contact |
|---|---|
| City of Cape Town water faults (24/7, call centre option 2) | 0860 103 089 |
| City of Cape Town water faults WhatsApp | 060 018 1505 |
| City of Cape Town water faults SMS | 31373 |
| Johannesburg Water contact centre | 010 061 4470 |
| eThekwini water call centre | 080 131 3013 |
| eThekwini water WhatsApp | 073 148 3477 |
| City of Tshwane call centre | 012 358 9999 |
| City of Ekurhuleni service call centre | 0860 543 000 |
Where the sender arranged and paid for the shipment, the courier’s contract is normally with them rather than with you. That often means the sender has to open the trace or lodge the claim, so tell the retailer at the same time as the courier.
Keep a record while it is happening
- Write down the date and time of every call, and the name the agent gave.
- Record the reference number for each contact. Without one, a follow-up starts from nothing.
- Keep any SMS or email exactly as received rather than forwarding and deleting it, since headers matter.
- Note what you were asked for, especially if a credential was requested, because that is evidence of an attempted fraud rather than a service failure.
- Photograph or screenshot anything that may be corrected or removed later.
A short written log is what turns a frustrating series of calls into something an escalation body can act on. Most complaint processes ask for the same three things: what happened, when, and what reference you were given.
Checking a number is genuine before you call
- Take the number from the organisation’s own website, typed into the address bar yourself, or from a document they issued you such as a card, bill or policy schedule.
- Treat search adverts, social media replies and third-party directories as unverified, whatever they look like.
- Check the context matches: fraud, accounts, faults and emergencies usually have separate numbers.
- No legitimate organisation needs your one time PIN, password, card PIN or remote access to your device.
- If a caller resists you phoning back on a published number, that resistance is itself the answer.
Related contact pages
- Municipalities
- Municipal Electricity Fault Contact Number
- Lala Ngoxolo Contact Details
- Fnb Ewallet Contact Number
- Ewallet Contact Number
- Municipality Contact Details South Africa
- Verify Contact Details South Africa
- Water Outage Contact Details
- Fake Contact Numbers South Africa
- What Not To Share With Customer Care
Frequently asked questions
How do I know which number is the right one for my problem?
Most organisations publish several. Match the number to the task: a fraud line for anything involving money moving without your consent, a fault line for a service failure, and general enquiries for everything else. Calling the wrong one usually means being transferred and losing your place.
What should I do if nobody answers?
Note the time and try again, then use a written channel such as email or the organisation’s web form so there is a dated record. A written trail is what an escalation or complaint will later be built on.
Is it safe to call back a number that contacted me?
No. Calling back reaches the same people. Look the organisation up independently and use the number published on its own site instead.
What if I have already shared something I should not have?
Act on the money first. Phone your bank’s fraud line using the number on your card, ask for the card to be blocked and pending transactions stopped, then change the password on your email before anything else, because email access allows the rest to be reset.
Contact routes on this page were checked against the official sources of each organisation named, during August 2026. Where a detail has changed, that organisation’s own site is always the authority.