South Africa: UCT Scientists Convince City to Drill Cautiously Into Aquifer

The City of Cape Town's emergency groundwater drilling programme will be formally scrutinised by an environmental monitoring committee. This is to ensure boreholes are located in ecologically acceptable areas and are operated responsibly.

The programme that initially proposed as many as 222 hastily drilled exploration, monitoring and production boreholes - some in highly sensitive nature areas harbouring critically endangered plants - has been temporarily scaled back. Further work on two boreholes already being drilled in the Steenbras nature reserve area has now been temporarily halted while concern about the environmental impact on adjoining vegetation is evaluated.

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