The direct URL to this page is www.up.ac.za/water.
The Hydrogeological Heritage Overview series of projects aim to increase the public perception on the importance of groundwater (and water in general) in urban South Africa. The need for preservation and the development history of South Africa's major economic nodes are addressed at the hand of visual media to ensure appreciation for these important natural resources. The first in the series - on the water history of the capital city, Pretoria - was launched in July 2013. The second is on Johannesburg and is being finalised, with the third on Cape Town due early in 2016.
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Book and documentary launch UP 16 July 2013, from left to right: Prof Cheryl de la Rey (UP Vice-Chancellor and Principal), Dr Shafick Adams (Water Research Commission research manager), Matthys Dippenaar (author, director and UP project leader) and Mr Dhesigen Naidoo (WRC CEO).
At present, approximately 57 million litres of water per day is supplied to the City of Tshwane from groundwater sources, accounting for approximately 7.5% of the total (the remaining 742 million litres per day is supplied from dams or imported from water boards). Before the incorporation of the Nokeng tsa Taemane and Kungwini municipalities in 2010, this figure was closer to 11%, and up to the 1930s the two springs supplied all of the drinking water to Pretoria.
Currently 92 million litres per day of the almost 800 million litres used per day is supplied from sources within the municipality (springs, boreholes and dams) with the remainder being imported, mostly from the Rand Water Board. Of this own supply, the two Groenkloof springs and the Rietvlei plant (including the dam and the five boreholes within the nature reserve) each supply approximately a third of the demand with the remainder being supplied from the Grootfontein and Sterkfontein springs and a number of other boreholes within the municipality.
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