Groundwater Awareness Campaign

The document outlines a comprehensive educational campaign by WWF South Africa and The Greenpop Foundation to teach students in grades 4-7 about groundwater, aquifers, and the risks of contamination. It includes detailed lesson plans using physical models to demonstrate aquifer structure and borehole extraction, as well as a poster competition designed to spread awareness within the Cape Town community. The materials highlight the specific vulnerability of the Cape Flats Aquifer due to its sandy soil and high permeability.

• Groundwater is stored in subsurface geological formations called aquifers, which are classified as either confined (having an impermeable rock layer above) or unconfined (where groundwater is in direct contact with the atmosphere).
• The Cape Flats Aquifer in Cape Town is characterized by flat land and sandy soils, which facilitate easy borehole drilling but increase the risk of human-driven contamination due to high permeability.
• Groundwater in South Africa is estimated to total approximately 235.5 billion m3, which is described as being equivalent to 10 Gariep dams.
• The primary sectoral use of groundwater in South Africa is crop irrigation, accounting for 78% of use, followed by domestic uses (7%), stock watering (6%), mining (5%), and industrial uses (4%).
• The two primary threats to groundwater resources are over-extraction (overutilisation) and contamination from sources such as industrial waste, municipal waste, leaky sewage pipes, and agricultural chemicals.
• Freshwater represents a very small fraction of Earth's total water; most freshwater is frozen in polar ice caps, with a significant portion of the remaining liquid freshwater stored underground as groundwater.

APA

WWF South Africa (2021). Groundwater Awareness Campaign. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/2_annexure_2_appendix_a_lesson_material.pdf

Chicago

WWF South Africa. Groundwater Awareness Campaign. 2021. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/2_annexure_2_appendix_a_lesson_material.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF South Africa |title=Groundwater Awareness Campaign |date=May 2021 |url=https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/2_annexure_2_appendix_a_lesson_material.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfsouthafrica2021groundwater, author = {{WWF South Africa}}, title = {{Groundwater Awareness Campaign}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2021}, month = may, url = {https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/2_annexure_2_appendix_a_lesson_material.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }