{"id":867079,"date":"2026-07-22T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867079"},"modified":"2026-07-22T11:33:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T09:33:27","slug":"good-news-for-one-group-of-homeowners-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/867079\/good-news-for-one-group-of-homeowners-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news for one group of homeowners in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Water and Sanitation has provided written confirmation that ordinary households that use borehole water for “reasonable domestic purposes” do not need to register with the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The confirmation follows the publishing of\u00a0draft regulations<\/a>\u00a0to monitor and regulate borehole drilling and groundwater extraction in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the proposed rules, all existing borehole owners would have to register their boreholes with the department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, commercial users are already subject to monitoring and registration requirements, but most homeowners and domestic users are not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the draft regulations, all borehole owners would need to record their details and borehole information in the National Groundwater Archive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, anyone planning to drill a new borehole would first need to obtain a geosite identifier before drilling can begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The regulations also require drillers and water users to submit drilling data within two months of completing a project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department warned at the time of the draft regulations being published that the country faces serious risks if underground water resources are not properly managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the registration requirements sparked deep concern among civil groups about the burden being placed on households, as well as the fear of prosecution for violating the rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Opposition Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), it reached out to the department to clarify the rules for domestic users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Many homeowners who depend on boreholes because of unreliable municipal water services believed they could face penalties or even criminal prosecution if they failed to register,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“South Africans should not have to fear prosecution simply because they installed a borehole to keep water flowing when municipal systems fail.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the department has now clarified and confirmed that most domestic users will be exempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who is exempt from the rules?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to the department, Schedule 1 of the National Water Act allows certain low-impact water uses without the need for a water-use licence or formal registration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include “reasonable domestic household use”, watering a small non-commercial garden, watering livestock within normal grazing limits, harvesting rainwater, using water during emergencies and certain recreational water uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the exemption only applies where the water use is reasonable and non-commercial<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department confirmed to OUTA that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Households using borehole water for reasonable domestic purposes are exempt from registration.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Small, non-commercial home gardens irrigated from household boreholes are also exempt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • There is no prescribed volume threshold for domestic groundwater use. The deciding factor is whether the use is reasonable and non-commercial.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Domestic users whose water use falls within Schedule 1 cannot be penalised or prosecuted for failing to register.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The current 90-day registration process does not apply to Schedule 1 domestic users. It applies only to water uses that require registration, including licensed, existing, lawful and general authorised water uses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Commercial, agricultural, industrial and other high-volume groundwater users must register with the relevant Catchment Management Agency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    While exempt users are not required to register, the department did encourage households to voluntarily submit technical borehole information to improve groundwater management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, this is separate from the legal requirement to register water use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The DWS also noted that municipal borehole requirements contained in local by-laws remain separate from the National Water Act registration process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    OUTA said the clarification and confirmation have brought much-needed certainty for households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “This clarification provides long-overdue legal certainty for ordinary households that have invested significant amounts of money simply to secure access to one of life’s basic necessities after repeated municipal water interruptions,” it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Department of Water and Sanitation has clarified and confirmed the proposed laws for borehole registration in South Africa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":860732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2079861748882874490","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[25884,19597,1988],"class_list":["post-867079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-borehole","tag-dws","tag-outa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867079"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867100,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867079\/revisions\/867100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}