20 Years of Successful Municipal Groundwater Use – TMG Wellfields of the Greater Hermanus Area

Dylan Blake 

Date & Time: 17 April 2024, 17:30-19:00
Venue: Room 357, the tea room at the Geological Sciences Building, 13 University Ave S, University of Cape Town

Table Mountain Group Aquifer Wellfields

The three fractured Table Mountain Group (TMG) aquifer wellfields in the greater Hermanus area (Gateway, Camphill and Volmoed Wellfields) are used conjunctively with surface water from the De Bos Dam, to ensure the optimal use of the water resources the municipality has access to. These three TMG wellfields are considered some of the best managed groundwater schemes in South Africa and are often used as an example of successful municipal groundwater bulk water supply. This has been best evidenced by the wellfields assisting the municipality in navigating both the 2009-2011 Southern Cape drought and the 2015-2018 “Day Zero” drought (the latter of which did not require severe water restrictions to be placed on Hermanus residents like the rest of the Western Cape). Additional bulk water supply from groundwater has allowed for continued economic development and social upliftment within the municipality, while the detailed groundwater monitoring network/programme ensures that there are no negative groundwater abstraction impacts to the surrounding environment such as groundwater-dependent ecosystems and the fynbos biome within Fernkloof Nature Reserve.

Kindly RSVP by 05 April. Email: [email protected]