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Managed Aquifer Recharge Projects in the Western Karoo, South Africa: Progress and Challenges

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Managed Groundwater Recharge and Rainwater Harvesting

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Abstract

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) in Southern Africa is nothing new and various projects have been completed with great success since the 1950s. In the Western Karoo, South Africa, climate change is predicted to cause prolonged droughts. Recent droughts have had devastating effects on the water supply to dispersed communities, affecting their lives and livelihoods. By using relatively simple and cost-effective MAR schemes (annual recharge of between 0.18 and 1.1 Mm3 per scheme), depleted aquifers have been replenished locally, restoring and improving water supplies. In this chapter, four sites (Saaipoort, Smouskolk, Williston, and Sutherland) in the Western Karoo are described in terms of the MAR schemes implemented and their progress and ongoing challenges. The first scheme was started in 2000, but most of them are built on or expand existing water supply infrastructure, basically augmenting capture and harvesting of occasional rainfall for recharge in the vicinity of production boreholes. The rationale for expanding the systems was in most cases that the existing systems could not keep up with population growth and the higher variability in rainfall. Despite the progress, the MAR schemes have had varying success due to factors like limited and very erratic rainfall and geological factors such as impermeable clay layers that restrict recharge. Based on the findings, and per the Water and Sanitation Masterplan for South Africa, additional schemes are being investigated for more towns in the Western Karoo. This chapter showcases the progress and experiences of current MAR schemes in South Africa in terms of performance and impacts, with a focus on the Western Karoo cases, and discusses, apart from the biophysical and performance aspects, the socioeconomic and institutional aspects. The aspiration is that new MAR projects can be planned and implemented with high confidence in their success, to help with assured future water supply in the Western Karoo, South Africa, and beyond.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In South Africa, according to the National Water Act, springs are considered surface water (RSA, 1998).

  2. 2.

    Towns are defined as an area with a population ranging from 3,000–5,000 people, where municipal services provide infrastructure and services such as water supply and sanitation (Lehohla, 2016). Villages are defined as less populous areas where such structured municipal services are not provided.

  3. 3.

    ‘Western Karoo’ is not a geographically uniquely defined term. It is mostly located in the Northern Cape Province, and Fig. 10.1 gives the definition as used in this chapter.

  4. 4.

    Saaidamme: or “planting dams” are used by the farmers to infiltrate water in the alluvial sands. Flood waters are diverted into a series of large, flat basins between 1 and 100 ha in size, which are ringed by low earth walls forming shallow dams or infiltration basins. The water is allowed to stand in the basins up to 1 m deep for between 1 and 3 days to saturate the alluvial soils and is then released. The stored soil water is used by deep rooted crops like lucerne that is planted directly in the basin (Murray et al., 2009).

  5. 5.

    Water Management Areas (WMAs): The National Water Act defines a WMA as: “an area established as a management unit in the national water resource strategy within which a catchment management agency will conduct the protection, use, development, conservation, management and control of water resources” (RSA, 1998).

  6. 6.

    The cost range was calculated as follows: [3 months] x [an average volume of 520 m3/d of water being pumped] x [the sliding scale municipal water supply cost (ranging from ZAR1.70 to ZAR12.42)] = ZAR79,560 to ZAR581,256.

  7. 7.

    General Authorisations do not require a water use license under the NWA.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Water and Sanitation, Pretoria, South Africa

    D. Hohne, F. Fourie & H. Gericke

  2. University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

    S. Esterhuyse

  3. Environmental Isotope Laboratory, iThemba LABS, Cape Town, South Africa

    M. Butler

  4. Centre for Environmental Management, Natural and Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 339, Bloemfontein, 9300, Republic of South Africa

    S. Esterhuyse

Authors
  1. D. Hohne
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  2. F. Fourie
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  3. S. Esterhuyse
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  4. H. Gericke
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  5. M. Butler
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Correspondence to S. Esterhuyse .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Formerly with Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), Faridabad, India

    Dipankar Saha

  2. Formerly with International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Pretoria, South Africa

    Karen G. Villholth

  3. Formerly with Minia University, Minia, Egypt

    Mohamed Shamrukh

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Hohne, D., Fourie, F., Esterhuyse, S., Gericke, H., Butler, M. (2024). Managed Aquifer Recharge Projects in the Western Karoo, South Africa: Progress and Challenges. In: Saha, D., Villholth, K.G., Shamrukh, M. (eds) Managed Groundwater Recharge and Rainwater Harvesting. Water Resources Development and Management. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8757-3_9

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