I mentioned it already in an earlier post – South Africa is a real water-scarce country. Remember? Three dry winters in a row in South Africa resulted in the Cape Town “Day Zero” drought in 2018 as reported worldwide. And the ongoing drought in parts of our country is still a very concerning situation .
There are other reasons why a reliable water supply for a house can be a real challenge. Infrastructure deficits are one important issue. Here in Clarens or there in Joburg – nope; no difference. Old reservoirs, collapsing infrastructure, missing maintenance, corruption – you name it. So the only solution for our project Housezero and to become independent was to drill for water and to try to find a steady flow of the liquid gold.
Finding water – a step by step guide
First you need to establish whether there is water underneath your plot of land. This is a tricky undertaking and the methodology of establishing an answer to this question – water or no water – is really a mix of a scientific approach and a little bit of witchcraft (you know, Monty Python’s floating apples? Good.). Seismic tests can give hints of where there might be water pockets, flowing water or just no water. After these high tech tests were done and it was found that water was most probably flowing beneath the future living room, some rather low tech or more unconventional technics to confirm this were applied. These technics range from using a fork of a wood branch while walking majestically and waiting for the fork to give a gentle nod or using a lightly filled water bottle and walking even more majestically while balancing it. The bottle and/or the fork then indicate the relevant spots where there shall be water. And there were three spots! Water! My star sign is Capricorn – I believe in science. Suffice to say that I am now converted – I like the mix of both, majestically walking and science.
So last week the experts rocked up on the plot and one earlier identified “water” spot was chosen. The rig was rigged and the noise started.
A nice little generator – not a silent one 
Borehole casing 
Straight above the magic spot 
Here we go – first few centimetres
It was a wonderful day of a lot of noise, a lot of dirt flying through the air and a great anticipation of a real James Dean moment.
Happy anniversary
No oil, very, very little water on day 1. But the water bottle said there is lots???!
On day 2 it happened – we stroke “good” water at roughly 48m! I was so totally overwhelmed with my feelings that I spontaneously decided to gift this borehole to my wife as my present for our wedding anniversary coincidently happening on the starting day of our drill – 16 August 2021.
She was o.k. with it. Not overexcited. But o.k. with it. You cannot wrap a borehole around a finger. No. Next year I shall try flowers and an excellent dinner again.
Housezero – Water supply: ticked off!
The results of the drill are great. We are now water independent with a well gushing 68.5m below the surface and giving us an estimated 500 l / hour for our future home. With the grey water solution added, we will be on the safe side of our attempt to go off the grid. The next steps will be the solar powered pump, water storage tanks and the filtering system that will be providing potable water to our home. Cheers!
Never too old – never too crazy. Stay tuned.
featured picture Alamy / Wikipedia / daily maverick.co.za
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