WATER CRISIS: Cape Town is digging deep

The search for water in parched Cape Town has gone underground as anxious residents queue for boreholes amid reports of a massive subterranean supply.

Borehole companies this week confirmed a spike in business, with one company reporting a five-month wait for its services. The rush relates to huge anxiety around the city's dam levels, currently standing at just over 20%, which has prompted stringent water restrictions.

Residents with access to borehole water can still irrigate their gardens and are not restricted to "vital" water-use functions - cleaning, cooking and drinking - which will apply to consumers of the municipal supply from Thursday. Borehole use is still restricted, but not to the same extent.

The focus on underground water has also put the spotlight on the city's own borehole plans, which may be fast-tracked to augment the dwindling dam supply.

In a radio interview earlier this year, city water supply manager Barry Wood confirmed work on a pilot study of the Table Mountain group aquifer, an underground water resource of potentially billions of cubic metres contained in rock fractures.

Xanthea Limberg, the Cape Town mayoral committee member responsible for water, said the council was commencing pilot drilling into the aquifer, hoping for a yield of 2 million litres per day. "This will be followed by incrementally adding boreholes for an additional maximum yield of 10 million litres per day."

But the underground supply, even if viable, would not be available in time to save Cape Town from severe shortages next year in the absence of above-average rainfall, experts said .

In the meantime, even government departments were turning to borehole water as a safeguard against taps running dry, according to Gabby de Wet of De Wet's Boreholes.

"There is a huge focus on groundwater at the moment because it is the only source we have left. That is why it is important for users to manage it well," De Wet said.

"We still have people on the waiting list from last year - it has been very challenging," she said.

"We got an extra borehole machine at the beginning of the year, but we don't have enough trained staff. We are unable to do more."

Simone Smith, marketing manager for Borehole Drilling Solutions, said: "There has been a substantial increase in the demand for boreholes and wellpoints as well as research into installing a borehole.

"It is important to keep in mind that a borehole needs to be managed in an environmentally friendly manner," Smith said.

A borehole technician who spoke to the Sunday Times earlier this month said some borehole users had reported reduced water flow due to the drought. There had been many requests for boreholes to be deepened.

Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town is concerned about the unregulated use of borehole water, particularly in light of the incomplete aquifer project. Widespread use of borehole water could reduce surface water, including supply to the city's main dams.

The drought is also affecting farmers throughout much of the Western Cape, where less rainfall appears to be a long-term trend.

Deciduous fruit industry body Hortgro warned this week that restrictions on irrigation meant farmers may soon have to remove less-productive orchards in order to remain economically viable.

"When irrigation water is restricted below 50% of the needs of the trees, profitable fruit farming becomes impossible due to the progressive impacts on the trees," said Hortgro's crop production manager, Wiehann Steyn.

"If irrigation water becomes very limited, growers may need to remove all fruit from the trees, rip out less productive orchards to save water for remaining orchards, or even remove the above-ground parts of trees to try to keep at least the root system alive."

jordanb@sundaytimes.co.za