Long awaited documentation that is attempting to standardise the way the data related to groundwater, and boreholes in particular is available for general perusal. Substantial amount of work is behind the pages that can now be downloaded for daily reference. The project that generated the document was enabled thanks to generous support of the NORAD, the Norwegian Agency for the Development Cooperation.

The project started in 1994 to ascertain the influence of rainfall on the groundwater quality and to determine the groundwater quality on the national scale. Currently 376 monitoring points are being sampled twice a year, that is before and after rainfall season (October and April). The sampling itself is undertaken in most of the provinces of South Africa by qualified personnel of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. During the sampling procedure personnel gather as much information on the monitoring point as possible and that is later stored it in the National Groundwater Database (NGDB).

The Namaqualand region is currently incorporated in the network (see picture) and it will be sampled in April for the third time. Its sampling points are currently assessed and they will be included in the map in due course. The monitoring network in KwaZulu-Natal is currently being established. The first phase of the network is the Maputaland coastal plain in the north of the province. The remainder of the province will be covered by subsequent phases over the next 12 months.

Samples are usually taken for macro-elements and they are analysed by Institute for Water Quality Studies (IWQS) at Roodeplaat dam. The chemical analyses are then forwarded into the DWAF’s water Quality Database (QualDB). At the end of each year, a report on current status of water quality and eventual changes is compiled.
During the October – November 1998 monitoring run, samples were also taken for stable and radio isotopes from 200 sampling points (69 for radio isotopes). Mr. AS Talma , of the CSIR is analysing the environmental isotopes, oxygen 18 (O18) and Deuterium (D or H2). The radioisotope, Tritium (H³), by Prof. BTh Verhagen, of Schonland Research Centre for Nuclear Sciences at WITS University. Results will be used as an supporting tool to determine the changes in time in ambient water quality in South Africa. Spatial changes of this sort will be addressed in one of the next phases of the project.
In order to broaden the information base on monitoring points it has been decided to include sampling and analysis for trace elements that could be dangerous to human health. That is going to take place during the next monitoring phase in April 1999.

For any further information please feel free to contact Sonia Malherbe.

View locations of current monitoring points of National Groundwater Quality Monitoring Project.

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