Montana sits north of the Magaliesberg on Bushveld Complex ground, where the usable water is held in the weathered mantle above fresh rock.
Depth to that fresh rock is the number that governs the project, and it varies over short distances.
What Is Under Montana
| Formation | Where it sits | What it means for drilling |
|---|---|---|
| Bushveld Complex norite and gabbro | The bedrock across the ground north of the Magaliesberg ridge | Water-bearing only where it has broken down. Sound, unfractured rock at depth is not worth drilling into. |
| The weathered mantle | The zone between soil and fresh rock, from a few metres to tens of metres thick | The productive zone on this ground. Its base is the sensible stopping point, and it varies from a few metres to several tens. |
| Granophyre ridges and diabase dykes | The low ridges and intrusions cutting the mafic sequence | Fracturing along an intrusive edge is the target. The granophyre or diabase itself is not an aquifer. |
Send your street and what the water is for, and get an itemised quote for Montana.
Get a Montana Borehole QuoteWhat That Means for Your Borehole
- Depth of weathering is the thing that matters rather than how deep the hole goes in total.
- Drilling past fresh unfractured norite adds cost without adding yield so knowing when to stop is part of the job.
- Results vary over short distances in step with how deeply the rock has weathered.
Where We Work Around Montana
- Montana and Montana Extension
- Montana Park boundary
- Sinoville approaches
- Doornpoort side
- Annlin edge
- Complexes and cluster developments
- Schools and community facilities
What to Watch For Here
Clay-rich soils affect both drilling and irrigation. Weathered norite produces heavy clay soils, which need casing through during drilling and which also change how a garden takes up water. Irrigation designed for sandy soil applies water far too quickly for this ground.
Iron staining is a common finding here. Mafic rock more often produces water with elevated iron and manganese than the sedimentary ground south of the ridge. It shows up as orange staining on paving, walls and washing, and it is worth testing for before committing to an irrigation layout.
What the Water Is Used For
- Watering lawns and beds through the driest months of the year
- Keeping water on the property through supply outages
- Lowering a water bill driven mostly by outdoor use
- Communal gardens in townhouse and cluster developments
- Pool filling where the water quality allows it
Wellpoint or Borehole?
No. A wellpoint needs clean sand and shallow water; this ground offers clay over mafic rock. Groundwater north of the ridge is reached by drilling into the weathered zone.
Registration and Abstraction
A completed borehole here should be registered with the City of Tshwane, and the responsibility for that sits with the property owner rather than with the driller. Separately, the National Water Act governs how much you may abstract: reasonable domestic use and small-scale gardening generally fall under Schedule 1, while larger, agricultural or commercial abstraction may require registration or a water use authorisation from the Department of Water and Sanitation. The position on domestic registration was being actively revised during 2026, so confirm your obligations before drilling rather than afterwards.
Related Services
For the drilling process itself, the geology across the wider metro and how a quote is put together, see Borehole Drilling Pretoria.
Borehole Prices in This Area
Drilling is charged per metre, so depth drives the total. The ranges below are framed for local ground conditions and access.
| Item | Indicative range | What moves it locally |
|---|---|---|
| Drilling, per metre | R500 - R1,200 /m | Progress is fast until the hole reaches sound rock, at which point it slows considerably. That depth varies from stand to stand. |
| uPVC casing, installed, per metre | R400 - R700 /m | The weathered zone above fresh rock is what gets cased, and it ranges from a few metres to several tens. |
| Mobilisation and site establishment | R2,500 - R9,000 | Access and site conditions move this; a site visit settles it before quoting. |
| Water survey | R5,000 - R12,000 | Targets structure rather than depth. Worth most where yield is fracture-dependent. |
| Yield testing | R3,500 - R15,000 | Establishes the sustainable rate that pump selection depends on. |
| Pump, supplied and installed | R15,000 - R45,000 | Greater depth means more head, which means a larger pump and heavier cable. |
| Storage and booster | R12,000 - R35,000 | Needed wherever peak demand exceeds the borehole's sustainable rate. |
| Typical complete project | R70,000 - R200,000+ | Everything above, excluding treatment, which depends entirely on the water analysis. |
These are indicative ranges, not a quotation. They are compiled from published South African supplier and contractor pricing to give you a starting point for budgeting. They are not our rate card, and no figure here is a commitment.
Treat them as a broad guide only. Published borehole pricing in South Africa varies enormously - 2026 guides quote per-metre drilling rates for Gauteng ranging from under R300/m to R1,500/m, a spread of more than five to one - because depth, geology, access, specification, distance and fuel costs all move the number. Depth in particular is not known until the hole is finished. Figures generally exclude VAT unless noted, and change over time. Only an itemised written quote against your actual site means anything.
Montana Borehole FAQs
Why does water here stain paving orange?
Dissolved iron is the usual cause, and it is more common in water from mafic rocks like the norite under this area.
It is treatable with filtration or oxidation, but the right treatment depends on the concentration and the form the iron is in, which the analysis establishes.
How deep is the weathered zone in Montana?
It varies considerably, from a few metres to tens of metres, and it is not predictable from the surface.
That variability is why depth is uncertain and why quotes are structured per metre rather than as a fixed total.
Is clay soil a problem for the borehole?
For the hole itself it means casing through the weathered material before it is stable, which is normal on this ground.
For irrigation it matters differently: clay accepts water slowly, so the system should apply water at a lower rate for longer rather than in short heavy bursts.
What yield should I expect in Montana?
Moderate where weathering is deep, poorer where fresh rock sits close to surface. The range across the suburb is wide.
A pumping test after drilling is what establishes it. Estimates given beforehand on this ground are not reliable.
DRILLING IN MONTANA?
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