The world is facing a water crisis, and this has become more evident to South Africans following the near-disaster posed by the “Day Zero” drought of 2018, which came close to seeing the Mother City’s taps run dry. When one combines the increased likelihood of future dry spells and the continued increases in water tariffs, it’s not hard to understand why many companies have been receiving more requests for borehole drilling services.

Why Borehole Drilling is Important

While the choice to access underground water is sure to impact your monthly bill positively, it also offers another significant benefit. Your decision can help reduce the growing pressure on municipalities struggling to keep up with demands from households and businesses for its piped supply in the face of visibly dwindling reserves. Just the water you usually use to clean the family cars, water your lawns and top up the pool could represent a substantial saving.

How it Works

When you arrange your borehole drilling, you need to know what to expect from the contractor. The first step will be to determine the best spot to drill. This is the task of a hydro-geologist, who will study maps and the surrounding land to identify the best position to sink the shaft.

At this point, you should have received a quote that should detail the cost of equipment, labour and testing services. Your contractor cannot know the exact depth necessary to drill, so will typically quote for a borehole of a pre-agreed, fixed dept, plus a “per metre” charge for any additional drilling that might prove necessary.

Once the hole has been drilled, it must be lined with a steel casing to stabilise the surrounding soil and rock and prevent it from contaminating the supply. On reaching the aquifer, your contractor will install a pump and perform some test measurements to determine the yield and set an abstraction rate that will ensure optimum performance. The final step in the borehole drilling process will be to cap the hole and install any additional surface pipework that you might require, such as a connection to a storage tank or sprinkler system.

Who to Contact

As the landowner, you will not need municipality permission or a licence to access the water beneath your plot, so you will only need to find a suitably experienced contractor. When choosing, make reputation your criterion rather than price. Homeowners in Gauteng can enjoy the services of “the experts in sustainable, reliable pump solutions” and more than 13 years of experience when arranging their borehole drilling with Water Pump Group.