July 13, 2016

Groundwater Monitoring

According to the Water Research Commission (WRC); groundwater occurs as part of the natural water cycle. Groundwater is formed by precipitation, such as rain water, that infiltrates down into the soil layer, but is not utilised by plants, and then percolates deeper underground. Groundwater is thus water that is found in the spaces between sand and soil particles or within the cracks in hard rock underground.

Access to groundwater is done by means of drilling boreholes or utilising springs. In South Africa users of groundwater include municipal, rural, agricultural and mining. A large number of the population in rural areas depend on boreholes for the provision of drinking water. Agriculture also utilises a large percentage of groundwater for crop irrigation practices.

The quality of groundwater is normally safe to drink, but could be affected by its underground environment in that it may dissolve some of the minerals in the rock with which it comes in contact.

The monitoring of groundwater quality and quantity is thus important to ensure that it is utilised sustainably. Groundwater quality monitoring is done through taking water samples from monitoring boreholes and analysing the water quality at a SANAS accredited laboratory.

Water quality results from the monitoring borehole can then be compared against a range of water quality guidelines to establish fitness of use. Water quality results can also be compared against historical water quality results to investigate temporal trends.

Aquatico provides a one stop service with regards to groundwater quality monitoring. We can assist with: