In South Africa, a water-scarce country, groundwater is a vital supply for small towns and commercial farming.
Approximately 13% of South Africa’s groundwater resources are used for domestic supply, with about 400 towns getting at least part of their water from groundwater, pumped out of the ground using boreholes. Commercial agriculture uses more than 60% of South Africa’s groundwater resources.
Groundwater is less affected by evaporation, making it a natural buffer during droughts and climate change, but it still needs strong regulation to prevent overuse and pollution.
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One of the problems in South Africa is that not all the data on how many boreholes have been drilled and how much groundwater is being used is reported to the Department of Water and Sanitation’s national database. Much information is missing and this is one of the biggest problems in groundwater management today.
Recently, South Africa’s Department of Water and Sanitation released draft regulations to change this and to help protect and manage groundwater.
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As a groundwater scientist, I believe the new regulations represent a significant step towards managing the country’s groundwater. However, the regulations fall short because they treat small and big commercial groundwater users in the same way, don’t consider climate risks, and may be hard to enforce in practice.
These issues need to be addressed and the regulations strengthened before they are finalised.
South Africa’s water is under pressure
Climate projections for South Africa show that the country will become warmer and drier. Rainfall won’t be as predictable. This will amplify water stresses in an already warm, dry and water-stressed region.
Surface water sources like lakes and dams will evaporate at a faster rate due to this regional warming. This will leave South Africa more reliant on groundwater. And as demand for water increases, groundwater is often seen as an accessible water supply option.
But it’s not an infinite supply. The groundwater recharges when it rains. When rainfall decreases, aquifers can’t replenish as much. Heavy rainfall during severe droughts could also worsen groundwater quality in instances where water rapidly infiltrates through the dry soil, without undergoing natural groundwater filtering processes.
When too much water is drawn from underground aquifers, they may dry up. Population growth and urbanisation add to these pressures.
How the law will change
Currently, anyone can tap into groundwater if they hire a company to drill a borehole on their property. The National Groundwater Archive of the Department of Water and Sanitation contains almost 300,000 records of geosites (geological sites). Most of these geosites are boreholes, but some are springs or “other” sites.
An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 new boreholes are drilled each year, most of which are not reported to the archive.
It is also not recorded whether boreholes are commercial, domestic, agricultural or industrial. Many are dry or repurposed over time. But what we do know is that far more boreholes exist and are drilled each year than are officially recorded.
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Under the new regulations, anyone who drills a borehole will have to register it with the government and keep a record of how much water they draw out.
The draft regulations also say that deciding where to drill a borehole (borehole siting) must follow best practice guidelines and only drillers registered on the national groundwater archive may manage a drilling operation. Geohydrological reports must be submitted to the archive.
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The regulations say that municipalities must prevent aquifers from becoming contaminated by developing groundwater protection schemes and plans to monitor water quality, because mines, commercial farms and poorly managed sanitation can cause irreversible or prohibitively expensive damage to groundwater.
The regulations also set out to protect fair access. For example, they require municipalities to protect and manage the groundwater they need for residents.
What could go wrong
Groundwater regulations are certainly needed in South Africa to protect groundwater resources that are becoming more stressed by the day.
Based on my research into groundwater over the past 25 years, however, I would argue that there are a number of issues that still need addressing.
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Firstly, government has done a poor job of making people aware of the new regulations.
Currently, small-scale groundwater users (such as private homeowners in rural and urban residential areas who use water for personal use only) do not need a licence for their boreholes under the Water Act.
Under the new regulations, they will be required to register the boreholes, install water meters to measure their water use from each borehole, do annual chemical analyses, and report this to the Department of Water and Sanitation.
If they do not comply, they may be criminalised. They could face five years’ imprisonment or a fine.
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This creates a big financial burden and a lot of paperwork for people who use low volumes of groundwater. The department also doesn’t have enough staff to verify the information of all the newly reported boreholes or to monitor that all borehole users are complying with the new regulations.
Secondly, the proposed regulations don’t take into account that different borehole users pose different risks to aquifers. Homes that use low volumes of water are less likely to overuse groundwater or contaminate it compared to large-scale users.
Thirdly, low-volume groundwater users shouldn’t be required to meter their water use and provide chemical analyses unless they have a borehole in an area where an aquifer is stressed, or in a strategic water source area.
Fourth, the regulations don’t consider climate change. So they haven’t been written to address the increasing risks of drought in South African towns that are located in already very dry areas.
Instead of requiring fixed groundwater abstraction volumes for municipal boreholes, municipalities should vary their groundwater abstraction volumes based on how much groundwater is being used and how much the aquifers are recharging after rainfall.
Next steps
Regulating groundwater in South Africa is not merely a technical matter. It’s strategically vital to protect groundwater resources, enhance resilience and secure water for future generations.
In South Africa, draft regulations have to be opened to public comment before they become law, giving people a chance to weigh in. The government then reviews feedback and makes changes. This public participation improves the quality, legitimacy, and enforceability of regulations.
Currently, the department is reviewing the comments they received on the draft regulations and could revise them. This means that there is still time to plug the gaps.
Surina Esterhuyse does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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