Research in support of groundwater

conservation

CREATED BY : SHUBHAM PAWAR

 Groundwater conservation

• Both quantity and quality issues are of concern in

groundwater conservation.
• Issues to consider are:
– over-exploitation and impacts on groundwater
availability and the integrity of the aquifers
– pollution from land-based activities, coupled with
aquifer vulnerability, leads to contamination of the
resource, with potentially disastrous consequences
– both the above may have serious ecological impacts
Groundwater and surface water a common
resource
Interconnectivity recognised in principles
underpinning legislation

• All water common resource…subject to national control…

consistent status in law…
• The location of water resource…in relation to land…shall
not…confer preferential rights…riparian principle shall
not apply
• …the unity of the hydrologic cycle …interdependence of
elements…basic hydrological unit is the catchment

Groundwater conservation research is done against

backdrop of these same principles and also prior
knowledge of aquifer characteristics in groundwater
regions of SA
Groundwater Regions Map
 Current groundwater related
“conservation” research programmes

• Groundwater occurrence in fractured-rock aquifers (90 of

aquifers in SA occur in these domains)
• Low flows and streamflow reduction activities
(groundwater contribution to maintaining surface flows)
• Groundwater protection (in urban catchments)
• Institutional arrangements for IWRM (management of
groundwater as an integral component of the resource)
• Groundwater dependent ecosystems (environmental
functioning of groundwater)
 Significant outcomes
• Capacity building (development of training and research
facilities at Universities. Most hydrogeologists in South
Africa have been trained as a result of WRC support.
• Established and supported the current knowledge base for
fractured rock aquifers – crucial for rural water supply
• Developed Resource Directed Measures for Groundwater
(to support implementation of the NWA)
• Artificial recharge of groundwater (augmenting rural
supplies and supplies to larger cities such as Windhoek)
• Mining impacts (developing the predictive capabilities to
understand impacts)
 Conclusion

• Research for 2003/2004

– A synthesis of the hydrogeology of basement aquifers in Southern Africa:
Research needs and priorities (this understanding is crucial for rural
livelihoods)
– Flow conceptualization and storage in Table Mountain Group (TMG)
aquifers
– Pilot study: Setting RDM for groundwater
– To calibrate and verify a predictive model for the occurrence of naturally
occurring hazardous trace constituents in groundwater
– Improved methods for aquifer vulnerability assessments and protocols for
producing vulnerability maps, taking into account soils information
• New research for 2004/2005
– Fate and transport of organic pollutants in groundwater
– Low flows and streamflow reduction activities