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X313, Pretoria, 0001; as well as the Joint Services Boards, Mhlatuze and Umgeni Water;
the KwaZulu Government; the Natal Provincial Administration; the Natal Parks Board; the
Department of Agriculture, and the Water Research Commission. The Geographic
Information System (GIS) of the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry is being used
in the survey. The Natal/KwaZulu study forms part of a nation-wide assessment of
groundwater resources.
The Directorate of Geohydrology, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Private Bag
X9052, Cape Town, 8000, initiated a project to derive groundwater data - including water
quality information - for selected primary aquifers along the South African coastline. The
data (where relevant), will be entered in the National Groundwater Database (discussed
below). The aquifers examined in NatallKwaZulu were in the environs of Richards Bay­
Lake Mzingazi, Lake St Lucia and Lake Sibaya. Various computer mapping procedures
illustrating the data are available, together with a numeric database which contains
information on each aquifer studied (Campbell, Parker-Nance and Bate, 1992 - above) *.
11.4.2 Groundwater data
There are four main (historical) sources of groundwater data for NatallKwaZulu. Data
generated by the (former) Department of Development Aid in (former) South African
Development Trust (SADn areas and to some extent in KwaZulu, can be found in the
National Groundwater Database. Similarly, data provided by the KwaZulu Water
Development Fund - established by the South African Sugar Association - are also available
in the National Groundwater Database. The Fund began operations in KwaZulu during
1980. The 1982/83 drought resulted in a major drilling programme, with a large number
of boreholes drilled in KwaZulu (and to a very limited extent in SADT areas), under the
auspices of the Fund. All the boreholes were equipped with handpumps.
A large groundwater data-set is held by the KwaZulu Department of Agriculture and
Forestry. The data include boreholes drilled under the auspices of the KwaZulu
Department of Works. Such data are likewise available in the National Groundwater
*
Separate maps for part of St Lucia can be obtained from the Natal Town and Regional Planning
Commission, Private Bag X9038, Pietermaritzburg, 3200. The seven map sheets entitled, Water table
(Eastern Shores of Lake St Lucial, with a scale of 1 : 20 000, were published in 1978. One map at
a scale of 1 : 20 000, also published in 1978, concerns Sodwana Bay and is entitled, Water table
(Sodwana Bay). The latter map is also available from the Commission.