With surface water availability potentially becoming a climate-change victim in the years ahead, South Africa should map its groundwater availability to ensure best use in times of crisis.
Amid reports that experts still have a long way when it comes to understanding groundwater systems, it has become important to know what can be expected from South Africa’s groundwater going forward.
South Africa should set out to partner with those countries that are doing research into groundwater. In what has been described as a first-of-its-kind stocktake, Geoscience Australia has reportedly already mapped underground water reservoirs, while Australia’s National Hydrogeological Inventory has gathered information on major groundwater basins.Sustainable underground water management is the wise way to go, particular for a water-scarce country like our own.