Research in support of groundwater conservation Kevin Pietersen Director, KSA: Water Resource Management

Groundwater conservation Both quantity and quality issues are of concern in groundwater conservation. Issues to consider are: –over-exploitation and impacts on groundwater availability and the integrity of the aquifers –pollution from land-based activities, coupled with aquifer vulnerability, leads to contamination of the resource, with potentially disastrous consequences –both the above may have serious ecological impacts

Groundwater and surface water a common resource

Interconnectivity recognised in principles underpinning legislation All water common resource…subject to national control…consistent status in law… The location of water resource…in relation to land…shall not…confer preferential rights…riparian principle shall not apply …the unity of the hydrologic cycle …interdependence of elements…basic hydrological unit is the catchment Groundwater conservation research is done against backdrop of these same principles and also prior knowledge of aquifer characteristics in groundwater regions of SA

Groundwater Regions Map

Current groundwater related “conservation” research programmes Groundwater occurrence in fractured-rock aquifers (90 of aquifers in SA occur in these domains) Low flows and streamflow reduction activities (groundwater contribution to maintaining surface flows) Groundwater protection (in urban catchments) Institutional arrangements for IWRM (management of groundwater as an integral component of the resource) Groundwater dependent ecosystems (environmental functioning of groundwater)

Significant outcomes Capacity building (development of training and research facilities at Universities. Most hydrogeologists in South Africa have been trained as a result of WRC support. Established and supported the current knowledge base for fractured rock aquifers – crucial for rural water supply Developed Resource Directed Measures for Groundwater (to support implementation of the NWA) Artificial recharge of groundwater (augmenting rural supplies and supplies to larger cities such as Windhoek) Mining impacts (developing the predictive capabilities to understand impacts)

Conclusion Research for 2003/2004 –A synthesis of the hydrogeology of basement aquifers in Southern Africa: Research needs and priorities (this understanding is crucial for rural livelihoods) –Flow conceptualization and storage in Table Mountain Group (TMG) aquifers –Pilot study: Setting RDM for groundwater –To calibrate and verify a predictive model for the occurrence of naturally occurring hazardous trace constituents in groundwater –Improved methods for aquifer vulnerability assessments and protocols for producing vulnerability maps, taking into account soils information New research for 2004/2005 –Fate and transport of organic pollutants in groundwater –Low flows and streamflow reduction activities