groundwater management

The

South Africa is a country at the forefront of the solar energy revolution. Each solar energy plant implementation results in further supply of clean renewable energy to the South African electric grid, thus playing a part in helping South Africa meet its renewable energy targets, in addition to stimulating long-term economic development and creating new jobs. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic systems, concentrated solar power and solar water heating to harness the energy.

The current Grahamstown/Makhanda drought has once again highlighted the vulnerability of the local surface water resources. The two local dams supplying the western part of town (and the university) are fed by a typical Eastern Cape river which requires a very large amount of rainfall to generate runoff into the dam. Rainfall records since 1860 indicate that statistically, the current drought is not the worst drought the town has endured and there have been many similar droughts in the past, most recently in the mid-1990s, and early 1980s.

Brackish groundwater resources could become an option to diversify the water supply-mix in the future when coupled with desalination or other evolving and cost effective water treatment technologies. This paper discusses regulatory and management responses dealing with brackish groundwater in international jurisdictions to form a basis for decision-making in groundwater management in South Africa.