Water, Sewage & Effluent March April 2019 | Page 33

groundwater as resource. Understanding aquifer recharge
mechanisms and their linkages with land-use is essential
when integrating groundwater with other water resources.
Greater use of groundwater sources does indeed hold
enormous promise for accelerating sustainable access to
improved water service and augmenting supply. It is much
quicker to develop boreholes than the construction of
major infrastructure usually needed for big surface water
development projects. Not only will communities reap benefits
sooner, but there is also scope for substantial cost savings.
Groundwater-based schemes can provide cheaper local
solutions instead of large regional surface water projects that
need big pumps and long pipelines to bring water from distant
dams and rivers.
References
innovations
• The National Groundwater Strategy. Department of
Water and Sanitation. January 2017.
• The National Water Resources Strategy – Version 2 of
2013. Department of Water and Sanitation.
• Definition of Groundwater: The American Heritage®
Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 
www.waterafrica.co.za
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