Affordable water resource development in the northern province, South Africa

An approach to groundwater exploration and utilisation is presented in an area that was traditionally regarded as having scarce groundwater resources. The area is situated in the Northern Province of South Africa and is known as the Nebo Plateau, which is formed by the Nebo Granite of the Lebowa Granite Suite, Bushveld Igneous Complex. Several historic tectonic events resulted in previously unutilised aquifers, of which the Spitskop Complex and geological lineaments associated with the Wonderkop Fault are examples. Both these areas show promising results, although high fluoride content in the groundwater may pose a problem. This can, however, be solved by treatment processes. The paper emphasises that the influence of the regional geology must be taken into account when exploring and developing groundwater in areas underlain by hard crystalline rocks.