Seyler, H; Vahrmeijer, JT; Wiegmans FE
The Steenkoppies dolomite aquifer/compartment is situated 15 km north-west of Krugersdorp and has received great attention in March 2007 when the naturally discharging spring (known as “Maloney’s Eye”) reached the lowest flow on record, which was an incident that has drawn much attention. This incident caused major concern to the downstream users as the spring forms part of the Magalies River’s flow. At the time of this incident the flow measured at a record low of 1.58 Mm3 /a compared to an average flow rate since 1908 of 13.8 Mm3 /a. Coincidently in March 2016 exactly nine years after this time the record low flow of 1.58 Mm3 /a was again measured at the Eye. Continued drought conditions in 2016 resulted in the lowest flow recorded for five consecutive months. The flow rate of less than 2.2 Mm3 /a is a mere 38 % of the average flows of (5.7 Mm3 /a) recorded for the last 10 years. While the interest in exploiting groundwater from the Steenkoppies compartment dates back to the late 1890s it is only since the 1980s to 1990s when abstraction for irrigation became substantial. The volume of groundwater abstracted for irrigation increased more than 7.5 times since 1980. The crop area increased 2.6 fold since 1997, while the volume of water abstracted increased 1.6 fold.
Unfortunately, despite numerous conceptual reports, scientific papers, lawful water use verification studies and crop water use investigations, the Steenkoppies water users are still without a managing body and groundwater management/use plan. The lack of (adaptive) management has led to uncontrolled abstraction and issuing of new Water Use Licenses without the proper knowledge of the impact of additional water use on the system. The failed establishment of a water user association according to the National Water Act in 2013 dampened the hopes for any collaborated groundwater abstraction, -monitoring and -management plan.
The groundwater model developed for the Steenkoppies compartment should be seen as a prospective evaluation tool to determine the potential behaviour of the system with time, given a set of changing parameters. Numerical groundwater models are considered the best tools available to quantify/estimate groundwater, and the results can be used in management decisions.
Estimated groundwater abstraction per annum from the Steenkoppies compartment amount to between 25 Mm3 and 30 Mm3 , with a likely current rate of 28.5 Mm3 /a. Based on the modelled fluxes with average groundwater recharge (rainfall) conditions and induced recharge from irrigation return flows, it appears that 25 Mm3 is an optimal abstraction rate while maintaining a flow of around 5 Mm3 from the Maloney’s Eye. However, the Maloney’s Eye is sensitive to below average rainfall events leading to below average recharge conditions and resulting in lower volumes available for abstraction. Neglecting this fact for the past 30 years has resulted in the ‘unsustainable’ use of groundwater in the compartment