South Africa is generally a dry country, it receives an average rainfall of approximately 500 mm/a, which is below the global average rainfall of 860mm/a. The annual average temperature in the study area was 25?C from 1995 to 2016. South Africa has made an improvement since 1994 with supplying domestic water of suitable standards, communities in rural areas, mostly have groundwater as the best option for satisfying their water demands. In the study area (Bushveld Igneous Complex), which falls within the Olifants and Limpopo Water Management Area (WMA), groundwater is used in various sectors for various. In both WMA's the irrigation sector is the highest water user. In 2015 irrigation accounted for approximately 72% of the total water requirements in the Limpopo WMA, with 57% of the irrigation requirements fulfilled by groundwater resources. In the Limpopo WMA groundwater resources supply also 44.5% of the domestic water requirements, while surface water resources account for only 21% and water transfer schemes account for 34.5%. In the Olifants WMA the mining sector uses 28 million m3/a of groundwater resources and 58 million m3/a from surface water resources. The aim of this research is to determine the hydrochemical variation and the suitability of groundwater for irrigation and drinking purpose for a sustainable agriculture and basic human needs. There are chiefly five hydro-chemical facies on regional scale identified based on the piper diagrams, namely the Ca-HCO3, mixed Ca-Mg-Cl type followed by Ca-Cl, Na-Cl and mixed Ca-Na-HCO3 water type. The suitability of groundwater is determined based on the water type, the mixed-Ca-Mg-Cl and Ca-HCO3 water types are generally suitable for domestic purposes as per SANS drinking water standards, while the mixed Ca-Na-HCO3, Ca-Cl and Na-Cl water types are mostly not suitable drinking water unless treated.
Presenter Name
Putuma
Presenter Surname
Nomatiti
Area
Limpopo
Conference year
2019
Keywords