Step-by-step explanation:
To prepare for a possible “day zero” (the day municipal taps are shut off), Gift of the Givers, a non-governmental South African disaster relief organisation, has been drilling boreholes near public locations like hospitals and schools to access water deposits deep beneath the South African landscape. The boreholes have been a true lifesaver for the locals who use them. However, some experts worry that they may cause more trouble than it’s worth.
“What is not being revealed [to citizens] is that because of the geological nature of the coastal zone, [fresh]water being extracted may be replaced by saline water intrusion coming from the sea via certain fissures in the rocks.” said Phumelele Gama, head of the botany department at Nelson Mandela University in an interview with Mongabay. According to Gama, the saline water intrusions would eventually render the borehole water deposits completely undrinkable in as little as six months after “day zero”.
Furthermore, the water deposits being accessed by these boreholes often contain an unhealthy and possibly deadly amount of bacteria. A 2020 study out of South Africa’s University of Venda and the Tshwane University of Technology, for example, found that 33% of the water found in borehole deposits near Vhembe rural areas in South Africa’s Limpopo province was contaminated with E. coli bacteria. Another study completed in South Africa came to similar conclusions, discovering that the boreholes near 10 public schools in the Giyani region of Limpopo contained multiple bacterial strains, including Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacteria and E. coli.