It governs the towns of Piketberg (the seat of the municipal council), Velddrif and Porterville, as well as the surrounding villages and rural areas.

The municipality covers an area of 4,407 square kilometres (1,702 sq mi) stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Groot Winterhoek Mountains in the east.

At the time of the 2022 South African Census, the Bergrivier municipality had a population of 70,276, an increase of 11.74% from 2011.

Some towns in the Bergrivier took part in this process, which resulted in the municipalities merging with their respective management committees to form new non-racial municipalities: Piketberg and Aurora in August 1992, and Eendekuil in January 1993.

The transitional councils were initially made up of members nominated by the various parties to the negotiations, until May 1996 when elections were held.

Transitional representative councils (TRCs) were also elected to represent rural areas outside the TLCs on the District Council; the area that was to become Bergrivier Municipality included most of the Piketberg TRC.

Seven councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in seven wards, while the remaining six are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received.

In the election of 1 November 2021 the Democratic Alliance (DA) obtained a majority of eight seats on the council.