Guidelines for the management of rural ground water resources
PREFACE
While there has been a general trend towards greater utilisation of local ground water
resources, the National priority for meeting basic needs of especially rural communities has
resulted in a much greater emphasis on the use of ground water as a water resource. As a
result groundwater"s role and importance has risen dramatically in the last few years. The
Government White Paper on Community Water Supply and Sanitation (1994) has, as one of its
main objectives, the provision for every household of a clean, safe water supply of at least 25
litres per person per day within 200 metres walking distance. Ground water, because of its
widespread occurrence, albeit in relatively low yields and sometime lower quality standards, is
ideally suited for this water supply situation particularly in the less densely populated areas.
However, the large scale over-pumping and pollution of ground water in selected areas of the
country, emphasizes the overall objective of sustainable development in terms of the
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), the improvement of general standards of
ground water development practice, and lately also the more controlled form of management of
this important resource in South Africa.
This document is based on a research project funded by the Water Research Commission to
develop a strategy and guidelines for the management of especially rural ground water
resources. Implementation of these guidelines will allow communities to monitor different
properties of their ground water resource with the objective to identify at an early stage if the
sustainability of the resource is threatened. Implementation and adherence on a wide scale to
the guidelines will hopefully bring greater uniformity in the monitoring of ground water on a
national scale, which will not only be to the benefit of the community, but also to the authorities
in managing the water resources of the country more efficiently.
This document is a first draft submitted to the WRC. The WRC, regional offices of the
Department of water Affairs and Forestry, and interested parties are requested to comment on
the procedures outlined in the document and to make suggestions and recommendations for its
improvement. Once the contents is finalised, it is suggested that DWA&F take ownership of
the document and distribute it widely for implementation in mainly rural ground water abstraction
schemes. However, its use should not be seen to be restricted to these users of ground water,
but is can and should be used widely by for example, farmers, municipalities, industries using
ground water for their activities and others with an interest in responsible management of their
ground water resources.
A document of this nature can never he final. Users of the guidelines provided in the following
pages are requested to comment on their experience in the implementation of the techniques
and to make suggestions about how the procedures can or should be changed or improved in
order to provide better management of ground water. Comments will he most welcome and
should be forwarded to the Water Research Commission.
WRC Project K5/861