The High Court in Pretoria ordered the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) to forward the test results of the new boreholes in Makhado (Louis Trichardt) to AfriForum's attorneys. The new boreholes play a crucial part in the eventual restoring of a constant water supply to the town.

AfriForum, however, deems the report of the VDM, though timeous, as inadequate.

“We are very encouraged by the day-to-day response from the entire management team at Vhembe, but there is a serious lack of attention to accurate detail in the report we had received. It seems like a token response,” local AfriForum chairperson Mr Wally Schultz said this week. Formal test results for only two boreholes were forwarded. No bacteriological count was included.

The six boreholes are located at the municipal testing grounds, in President Street, at the caravan park, at the cricket club, in De la Rey Street and at Eden Oil.

The borehole at the testing grounds had been blocked and not tested. It has since been unblocked. The borehole in President Street had to be re-drilled.  Test results for these two boreholes are anticipated in the second week of November.

The borehole in the caravan park was drilled to a depth of just above 50 m and the static water level was 3.97 meters. During constant discharge, this borehole has a discharge rate of 3.20 litres per second and it was recommended that the borehole be pumped 3 litres per second for 24 hours per day.

“This borehole has a high yield, with good recovery. The water quality for this borehole is ideal water quality (class 0),” reads Lushaka’s report. Management’s summary said that this borehole can produce 86 400 litres per day which is enough for 1 440 people at 60 litres per person per day.

The borehole at the cricket club is 59m deep, with a static water level of 5.46 m. The discharge rate is 1.01 litres per second. “The borehole can only be pumped 0.5 litre per second for 12 hours per day,” recommended Lushaka and stated that the water quality is ideal (class 0). Management’s summary said that this borehole can produce 21 600 litres per day, which is enough for 360 people at 60 litres per person per day.

Management included borehole recommendations on a borehole where the street was unidentified, probably the one in De la Rey Street, although some facts differ from the facts on management’s summary. The borehole depth is 64m and the static water level is 9.4m. The discharge rate is 12 litres per second. This borehole can be pumped 10 litres per second for 8 hours a day, whereas management’s summary said that it produces 10 litres per second over 24 hours. The water quality is Class 1 (Class 0 on the summary) and according to management’s summary, this borehole can produce 860 000 litres per day, which is enough for 144 000 people at 60 litres per person per day.

Three of the boreholes so far can thus cater for 145 800 people at 60 litres per person per day. Sixty litres per day will probably not fill much more than a bathtub. Interestingly enough, at 200 litres per day, the water of the three boreholes will be enough for 4 840 people.

“The Eden Borehole has been found to have a very low blow yield and as such it is felt that it won’t be advisable to continue with it. It is anticipated that the drilled boreholes are having sufficient water to address the challenge,” wrote Mr Eric Masakona of the VDM.