As part of ensuring South Africa’s water security, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is accelerating its exploration of the use of groundwater as an alternative water source.

Groundwater is acknowledged as a national asset and an integral part of the country’s water resources that has played a major role in reducing the backlog for domestic water supply.

“As a department and as a country, we are committed to exploring groundwater as an alternative water source to ensure water security in communities affected by water supply challenges,” says Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu.

Groundwater accounts for about 13% of the national total water supply, and 100% in some areas, playing an important role in ensuring there is water security in South Africa.

Amid the impact of climate change and growing water demand, groundwater will become increasingly critical.

Climate change and increased demand for water across multiple sectors have already impacted on surface water storage throughout Southern Africa, which, by 2025, is predicted to have insufficient water supplies to meet human and ecosystem needs, resulting in increased competition for scarce resources, constrained economic development and declining human health.

As South Africa’s surface water resources are fully allocated, the country’s water supplies are supplemented by international transfers from the Lesotho Highlands Water Transfer Scheme, which is approaching its second phase.

“To meet the increase in water demand, we have gradually increased groundwater use through the groundwater development scheme. There is an increasing trend for individual community members to drill boreholes for self-supply in response to water supply challenges,” Mchunu says.

“The rapid rate at which this is happening shows how resilient and critical the groundwater resource is.”

According to the DWS, more than 50% of available groundwater is being used in five water management areas across the country, with the highest use recorded in Limpopo.

“It is important to note that the capital city of the North West province, Mahikeng, is mainly reliant on groundwater sourced from the dolomite aquifer, from the east of the city,” adds DWS surface and groundwater information director Zacharia Maswuma.

Many of South Africa’s indigenous communities rely on groundwater for their survival, while about 320 towns also depend on groundwater supply in conjunction with surface water.

The City of Cape Town is investigating the groundwater potential of the deep aquifers of the Table Mountain Group sandstones, while there is ongoing research in Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape, to explore the use of the resource, he adds.

The DWS continues to work on operationalising its strategy for groundwater and approaches its implementation in a “highly organised and scientific way”, says Mchunu.

The strategy deals with the policy and legislative framework, human resources and the issue of institutionalising the approach to groundwater.

Meanwhile, the DWS is fast-tracking the activities of the Anti-Pollution Task Team to deal with all water quality pollution challenges in the country.

“As a department, we have acknowledged that our country’s water resources are on the decline in both quality and quantity,” Mchunu says.

The 2017 Water Quality Management Policies and Strategies for South Africa identifies pollution from wastewater treatment plants and mine operations as the main sources of pollution.

While the challenges facing the country are not due to policy gaps, he says, highlighting that the standards to deal with pollution in these sectors are generally in place, noncompliance which existing policies and standards remains a challenge.

The DWS warned civil society and business to prevent and stop the pollution and that strict measures will be taken against those who pollute the resource.

Compliance monitoring and enforcement are among the key tasks of the Anti-Pollution Task Team.

The task team is mandated with the coordination and integration of the management of water resource quality in South Africa and providing high-level guidance to ensure protection of water resource and identify remedies to mitigate pollution impacts.

“Groundwater contamination occurs when man-made products such as petrol, oil and other harmful substances get into groundwater supplies and cause it to become unsafe and unfit for human use,” Maswuma says.