Areas We Cover

We drill boreholes and build the water systems that go with them across greater Durban, up the North Coast to Ballito and Stanger, down the South Coast to Scottburgh, and inland to Pietermaritzburg. The pages below are organised by what is actually under the ground, because that is what determines how a borehole is drilled, what it is likely to yield, what the water is like and what it costs.

The region sits across several broadly distinct settings. Suburbs within one of them share similar rock and similar drilling behaviour, so the honest thing to do is group them rather than invent differences that do not exist. Suburb boundaries are not geological boundaries, so a stand near the edge of a group may sit on its neighbour's ground.

The coastal ridges: Berea red sand

The Berea Ridge north of the harbour, the Bluff south of it and the ridges through Durban North, La Lucia and Umhlanga are built of the Berea Formation: old, consolidated dune sand weathered to deep red, clayey soil. Holes pass through a thick soft cover that has to be cased before reaching Karoo rock or tillite below. Steep, terraced stands make rig access and slope control the practical problems.

The North and South Coast: dune sands near the sea

From Umdloti to Ballito and from Amanzimtoti down to Scottburgh, younger dune and beach sands lie over Dwyka tillite, Ecca shale and sandstone or Natal Group sandstone. The water table can be shallow, so wellpoints are often realistic on sandy stands. The catch is the sea: pumped too hard, a coastal source can draw in brackish water, so rates are matched to a test and the water is checked for salt.

Durban South: the low-lying flats

Between the harbour and Isipingo, the old flood plains of the Umlazi and Mbokodweni rivers hold sands, silts and clays over Karoo rock, with a shallow water table. Drilling is not the hard part here. The South Durban basin has a long industrial history, so a laboratory water test comes before any use beyond basic irrigation.

The inner west and Stanger: Natal Group sandstone and Dwyka tillite

Westville, Pinetown, New Germany and Kloof sit on hard, quartz-rich Natal Group sandstone, the rock of the Krantzkloof and Palmiet gorges, and on massive Dwyka tillite, both cut by dolerite. Stanger, inland on the North Coast, sits on similar rock. These are fractured-rock aquifers: the hole has to meet a joint, fault or dolerite contact, so siting matters and yields vary between neighbours.

The Upper Highway: sandstone over granite and gneiss

Up at Gillitts, Hillcrest, Waterfall and Botha's Hill, Natal Group sandstone caps rest on far older granite and gneiss, the basement exposed in the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Water tables sit deeper on the ridges, holes tend to run deeper, and the crystalline basement gives low yields unless a fracture is intersected. Large stands, smallholdings and estates make these some of the busiest borehole suburbs in the metro.

The southern and central suburbs and Pietermaritzburg: Karoo shale and dolerite

Queensburgh, Malvern, Sherwood and Chatsworth, and Pietermaritzburg itself, sit mainly on Ecca Group shale, including the Pietermaritzburg Formation, intruded by dolerite sills and dykes. Weathered shale drills easily but turns to slippery clay; fresh dolerite is very hard. Dolerite contacts are the best targets, yields are usually modest, and the water can be more mineralised than in sandstone areas, so testing comes first.

Not Listed?

The list above is not the limit of where we work. If your suburb is not on it, send your street and we will tell you what the ground is likely to be and what a borehole there would involve.

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