Project shows what a lot we got

Abstract

GROUNDWATER ASSESSMENT I t has been called the country’s ‘hidden treasure’ and ‘liquid gold’, but to date the question of exactly how much water South Africa has stored underground has remained largely unanswered, much to the frustration of engineers and planners, even hydrogeologists themselves. Groundwater abstraction is far from new practice. Many of South Africa’s indigenous communities survived mostly on groundwater, while the names of many modern-day towns reflect the dependence of early settlers on underground water and its importance in the establishment and spread of settlements (just think of place names such as De Aar and Springs). Even Johannesburg owes its early survival to the availability of borehole water. Yet the first attempt at a synoptic and visual representation of the country’s groundwater resources was made only ten years ago. However, these attempts at measuring exactly how much water is stored underground were largely educated guesses rather than being based on algorithms.

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