Artificial recharge - A novel method to 'bank' water

Abstract

GROUNDWATER At first glance, Windhoek – Namibia’s capital city inhabited by more than 200 000 people – would appear to have little in common with Karkams, a rural village in Namaqualand with a population of less than 2 000. Yet both have adopted a novel method of ‘banking’ water to tide them over dry periods. Surplus surface water is injected into hard-rock, fractured aquifers to ‘recharge’ groundwater and take advantage of natural storage space underground. These artificial recharge schemes were the subject of a recent WRC-funded study by Ricky Murray and Gideon Tredoux of the CSIR in Stellenbosch.

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