"We have farmers who are drilling beyond 500m on Gauteng's East Rand and West Rand. They hit water but it lasts maybe two days. Then it dries up. The depths to which they are drilling are unprecedented," says Mike Mlengena, president of the African Farmers' Association.
The average depth of boreholes is between 60m and 150m.
Farmers are increasingly hard-pressed to irrigate parched fields and water their cattle.
Free State farmer James Tolmay who farms near the Vaal River said that he had a good supply of borehole water but his neighbours had "huge problems". "My boreholes are 12m deep but they are going beyond 200m. We need huge amounts of water to irrigate our crops - 20,000l a day - but they are struggling to get it.
"If we don't get good rains within the week there are going to be serious problems."
But Matthys Dippenaar, a research project leader for the Water Research Commission, said: "It is not sustainable to turn to groundwater when surface water is threatened. "It is dangerous to just start pumping out more groundwater, which depends on rain for replenishment.
"There is no way of knowing how much water is being pumped out of the ground."
Source: The Times
For more than two decades, I-Net Bridge has been one of South Africa’s preferred electronic providers of innovative solutions, data of the highest calibre, reliable platforms and excellent supporting systems. Our products include workstations, web applications and data feeds packaged with in-depth news and powerful analytical tools empowering clients to make meaningful decisions.
We pride ourselves on our wide variety of in-house skills, encompassing multiple platforms and applications. These skills enable us to not only function as a first class facility, but also design, implement and support all our client needs at a level that confirms I-Net Bridge a leader in its field.
Go to: http://www.inet.co.za
