HESSEQUA NEWS - Living through a drought is challenging and scary for everyone, particularly farmers whose livelihoods depend so strongly on the availability of water.
However, only a few years after a drought we tend to revert back to our old water-use patterns.
"It is when we have enough water available that we need to plan and implement long-term, sustainable solutions to increase our drinking water supplies, so that we can be prepared for the next unexpected, hard-hitting drought," says Marlene de Witt, a researcher at the Stellenbosch University Water Institute (SUWI).
"With the unpredictability that climate change has brought about, we need to innovate and diversify our water resources to help us when our dams dry up."
De Witt is the project manager for a water resources study currently being carried out in the Riversdale and Stilbaai area by SUWI and international partners. The research team is working to understand the functioning of the Goukou River and the underground water resources (aquifers) better, which will give the Hessequa Municipality additional tools to plan for long-term water security.
Water management in the Hessequa region and other Garden Route towns, is especially difficult because of the large number of tourists that descend on the coastal towns during peak seasons, significantly increasing water consumption.
Groundwater
The Stellenbosch team will investigate 'managed aquifer recharge' as one potential option to diversify drinking water resources to ensure there is enough water during peak holiday periods and droughts.
"Managed aquifer recharge is an option that allows us to use groundwater responsibly, by putting water back underground when there is extra water available and extracting it when we need it. It is like using the underground rocks as a dam," she says.
The researchers are currently gathering more information about the river, land-use, surface and groundwater use and springs through questionnaires and interviews.
They will then use this information, together with existing data gathered over many years by government and other researchers, to feed into a computer programme, which can illustrate the flow of water from rain to the Goukou River and into the underground aquifers.
"This modelling process will help us understand how water moves in the Goukou area, as well as how much there is available and how much we're using - a water budget of sorts. We will then use this computer programme to test whether there is extra water in the system to store underground for times of need," says De Witt.
Water for the future
In addition to this, an important part of investigating alternative water sources is understanding people's opinions about their drinking water:
"It is very important that residents understand where their water comes from and what the options are to secure this water for the future. New water sources cannot be introduced if residents are not on board with the decision."
For this reason the research team is asking residents to volunteer to participate in the study and provide informed consent, by completing a questionnaire that gauges people's perceptions of water management.
To access the questionnaire online, residents can go to https://sunsurveys.sun.ac.za/surveys/Goukou-water-management.
To access the questionnaire, online, residents can scan this QR code.
Alternatively, hard copies can be obtained from the municipal offices in Riversdale and Stilbaai, or from De Witt directly by contacting her at marlenedw@sun.ac.za or 0828673656.
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