AS THE CITY GROWS, SO DOES ITS APPETITE FOR WATER

The document highlights the critical risk that unsustainable groundwater abstraction poses to Cape Town's water resilience and ecosystems, particularly following a severe drought between 2015 and 2019. It details a citizen science pilot project revealing a high number of unregistered boreholes in areas like Newlands and Epping. To address these gaps, the Table Mountain Water Source Partnership was formed in 2020 to integrate government, private sector, and community efforts in monitoring groundwater levels and quality.

• Unsustainable groundwater extraction poses a critical risk to the water resilience of Cape Town's population and its groundwater-dependent ecosystems, such as wetlands.
• A severe drought between 2015 and 2019 led to a significant increase in borehole drilling in Cape Town, many of which remain unregistered on city or national databases, hindering the ability to track total water usage.
• Citizen science research conducted between 2018 and 2020 found that 90% of boreholes in the Newlands suburb and 14% in the Epping/Airport Industria business area were not officially recorded on public databases.
• The City of Cape Town is diversifying its bulk water supply by tapping into three underground reserves: the Cape Flats, Atlantis, and Table Mountain Group aquifers, with current work in the Cape Flats area expected to add 6% to the bulk supply in the coming years.
• The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) introduced rules in January 2018 requiring all private boreholes to be metered and for abstraction data to be submitted weekly, though some find this reporting rate unmanageable.
• The Table Mountain Water Source Partnership, established in 2020 and initially funded by AB InBev and later the Danish Embassy, aims to improve groundwater monitoring and management through a collaboration of government, private sector, and local communities.
• South Africa's national strategy aims to reduce the proportion of surface water in the water source mix from 73% in 2000 to 60% by 2040 through the use of groundwater, desalination, water reuse, and alien plant clearing.

APA

WWF South Africa (2020). AS THE CITY GROWS, SO DOES ITS APPETITE FOR WATER. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_groundwater_fact_sheet_1oct20.pdf

Chicago

WWF South Africa. AS THE CITY GROWS, SO DOES ITS APPETITE FOR WATER. 2020. https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_groundwater_fact_sheet_1oct20.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=WWF South Africa |title=AS THE CITY GROWS, SO DOES ITS APPETITE FOR WATER |date=2020 |url=https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_groundwater_fact_sheet_1oct20.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wwfsouthafrica2020city, author = {{WWF South Africa}}, title = {{AS THE CITY GROWS, SO DOES ITS APPETITE FOR WATER}}, institution = {WWF South Africa}, year = {2020}, url = {https://wwfafrica.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_groundwater_fact_sheet_1oct20.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }