The increase of borehole drilling in Grahamstown came up for discussion at the recent water indaba, where experts said that this practice is robbing Grahamstown of its natural resources.
The increase of borehole drilling in Grahamstown came up for discussion at the recent water indaba, where experts said that this practice is robbing Grahamstown of its natural resources.
During the indaba, Technical and Infrastructural Services director Dabula Njilo said a licence is required to drill a borehole and this licence is issued by the Department of Water Affairs. He added that if there is an increase of drilling then these also need to be reported.
Makana municipal spokesperson Thandy Matebese said the municipality does not have a register for boreholes which is why it was recommended during the indaba to develop a policy that would deal with the monitoring and approval of new and existing boreholes.
It was also suggested that meters be installed to charge people for depleting the local water resources. A borehole is sunk deep into the earth to locate, extract or use underground water. Boreholes around town can be spotted by signs placed in front of the property.
This indicates that the people living on the property use water from the borehole, usually for irrigation purposes. It turns out that some boreholes are drilled illegally, which may be a reason some of them run dry later.
A property on Bennet Street has a borehole that was drilled in 1986 but is now dry, and a business that utilises water for irrigation purposes said they hired a contractor two months ago to drill 150 metres down but found no water. They said a permit was not required as they were drilling within their yard.
Another resident said he also hired a contractor to drill a 90-metre deep borehole in his yard in February this year. "I got quite a lot of water which was found within a water-bearing rock, quartz as it fractions easily and water can easily enter it," he said.
He is however sceptical of the water quality. He said that he conducted a water quality test which revealed a high level of salt. "I can't really use it for drinking as the water is hard and not ideal. I just use it to keep my lawns green," said the resident.
"I do think there are a lot of boreholes in Grahamstown and you will get a lot of people that will say they started drilling because of the water restrictions not allowing us to water our lawns with municipal water," he said. The resident said he did not get obtain a permit to drill the borehole.
Another property in Grahamstown has two boreholes between 70 and 100 metres deep, which are used to irrigate six hectares of crops. The residents on the property say that this does not diminish Grahamstown's water supply as they have had to rely on using borehole water when the city’s supply ran dry for a few days. They acknowledged that a permit for the Department of Water Affairs (DWA) is required but are not aware of the municipality's requirements other than water restrictions.
A 2004 study by SRK Engineers and Scientists stated that 64 percent of all groundwater extracted via boreholes is used for irrigation. DWA currently has over 34 000 boreholes on their database for the Eastern Cape and some of these are monitored.
According to the DWA regional Groundwater Office, there are 11 registered boreholes reported in the vicinity of Grahamstown.
Dr Jim Cambray of the Kowie Catchment Campaign (KCC) noted that when the municipality makes the findings of the water indaba public, their thinking on the use of groundwater within the municipality will be understood.
"Groundwater must be considered as one of the municipality's water sources for the future and now we need to take care of both the quality and quantity of this resource," he said. He added that studies from around the world have shown that this source is being depleted. "We need to know how long it takes to recharge our water table in Grahamstown. I have heard that boreholes have gone dry in town and that now you have to drill deeper for water. A proper study needs to be conducted on our groundwater resource. Can we really just keep putting in boreholes without any controls?"
According to the law
General Authorisation of groundwater use in terms of Section 39 of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act No 36 of 1998), states that extraction can be performed in five zones and each zone is entitled to a volume that can be extracted per hectare each year. Under Schedule 1 use of Section 39 of the Act, a person can take water from a borehole without a licence for reasonable domestic use, small scale gardening and not for commercial purposes of not more than 10 cubic metres (m3) or in other words five full baths (provided the bath is a maximum of two metres long, one metre wide and one metre deep).
Small industrial users such as people who process or bottle food or mine on a small scale are also included in under Schedule 1 and may not use more than 20 cubic metres (m3) per day. A borehole drilled for Schedule 1 use does not have to be registered with Department of Water Affairs (DWA). DWA asks that individuals do this on a voluntary basis so that they may have data on the groundwater use of the country. If the General Authorisation volumes are exceeded, a license to use groundwater is normally required.
Grahamstown's regulations
The country is divided up into different zones according to available water. The Gahamstown area falls under Zone C, where a person can extract 75 m3 per hectare each year. Small industrial users may extract up to 20 m3 per da. The DWA Eastern Cape Groundwater Plan assists the Eastern Cape Region management to effectively execute the required groundwater functions. according to the plan, there isn't much abstraction monitoring taking place but groundwater level monitoring is slowly being established.
The municipality's Water and Sanitation Services By-Laws document (which you can download from the municipal website at www.makana.gov.za) states that boreholes are subject to any requirement of the National Water Act, 1998. It also states that the Water Service Provider (an authorised agent) may require the owner or occupier of any premises who intends to sink a borehole to undertake an environmental impact assessment as no person may sink a borehole on premises situated in an area where dolomite is found.
According to geologist Dr Nick Stavrakis, dolomite areas are full of caves and tunnels so drilling into it will deplete water resources. It also removes the hydrostatic pressure support underground, creating sink holes where the sub surface falls in. "It is known to happen that sink holes with underground tunnel systems are so cavernous that they have been known to drain whole lakes on the surface," he said.
