Groundtruthing

This report by GEOSS South Africa for WWF South Africa details the establishment of a citizen science groundwater monitoring network in two pilot areas of Cape Town: Newlands and the Epping/Airport Industria area. The project aims to address the risks posed by unsustainable groundwater abstraction, which increased during the 2015–2019 drought, by characterizing groundwater resources and installing monitoring equipment to support future numerical groundwater modeling.

• The 2015–2019 drought in the Western Cape and City of Cape Town led to a sudden increase in the creation of boreholes and well points, resulting in an unquantifiable rise in the number of groundwater users and the total volume of water abstracted.
• The City of Cape Town relies on three primary aquifers for groundwater: the Table Mountain Group Aquifer (found beneath Western Cape mountain ranges), the Cape Flats Aquifer (a shallow aquifer exceeding 400 km2), and the Atlantis Aquifer (approximately 130 km2).
• In Cape Town, the general groundwater abstraction authorisation limit is 400 m3/ha/a, except in northern reaches where the limit is 150 m3/ha/a. Total licensed groundwater abstraction in the city is approximately 23 million m3/a, though residential use is often unlicensed and absent from the government's WARMS database.
• A hydrocensus in the Newlands study area visited 105 properties, with 29% of residents available to provide data. Reported concerns from users included the presence of iron in the water, the drying up of southern well points, and the irresponsible or selfish use of groundwater by some citizens.
• In the Epping and Airport Industria area, a hydrocensus identified various uses including irrigation, domestic use, and industrial production. Some users expressed concerns regarding water quality and the sufficiency of volumes for their needs.
• The project successfully deployed six Solinst Leveloggers in the Newlands residential area between November and December 2019, and six Solinst Leveloggers in the Epping industrial area between February and March 2020, including two at the Cape Town International Airport.
• The report emphasizes that a numerical groundwater model for Newlands would require specific data for transient calibration to predict aquifer stresses, including surveyed water level elevations, abstraction volumes, rainfall data, and water quality data.

APA

WWF South Africa (2020). Groundtruthing. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_groundtruthing_report_1oct20.pdf

Chicago

WWF South Africa. Groundtruthing. 2020. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_groundtruthing_report_1oct20.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF South Africa |title=Groundtruthing |date=2020 |url=https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_groundtruthing_report_1oct20.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfsouthafrica2020groundtruthing, author = {{WWF South Africa}}, title = {{Groundtruthing}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2020}, url = {https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_groundtruthing_report_1oct20.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }