Borehole rules hold no water

Here in South Africa, we’re world leaders in thinking up law and regulations without considering their impact in the real world – where people live and where the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers and their families could be severely hit.

John Weaver, a consulting hydrogeologist with 50 years of experience, who is also chair of the South African National Bottled Water Association, says that if he had to apply just one of the proposed new regulations for boreholes, there could be massive job losses.

That section prohibits boreholes within 500m of a “critical vegetation biome”.

Many of these in the Western Cape provide irrigation for export fruit orchards and vineyards, the closure of which could put as many as 500 000 people out of work.

He said also that attempts to restrict or monitor suburban boreholes, extracting water for domestic use, would be a “ridiculous waste of money” because such operations would in no way endanger the life of an underground water aquifer.

Given that our national and municipal water infrastructure is collapsing all around us, then it is natural that people are going to want to reduce reliance as much as possible on that infrastructure – and the reality is that upwards of 80 000 new boreholes are being drilled every year.

But, most of them are “off the books” when it comes to official government records.

Groundwater Division of South Africa chair Roger Diamond believes that “good regulation can provide useful data, create awareness of water shortages and give an incentive for responsible use”.

However, he pointed out that because of the “extreme lack of law enforcement” in most areas, but especially where the environment is concerned, those drafting the regulations need to exercise care.

After all, we don’t want to throw the proverbial baby out with groundwater, do we?