Rietvalleirand sits near the eastern of the two dolomite bodies south of Pretoria, the one whose springs feed the valley above Rietvlei Dam.
It is favourable regional groundwater, with the usual karst caveat that a specific hole either intersects a productive structure or does not.
What Is Under Rietvalleirand
| Formation | Where it sits | What it means for drilling |
|---|---|---|
| Timeball Hill Formation shale and quartzite | The higher ground and low ridges through the southern suburbs | Shale is quick going, quartzite bands are not. Either way the water sits in fractures and bedding partings rather than throughout the rock. |
| Malmani dolomite beneath | The compartments below and to the south that feed the Fountains and Rietvlei springs | The strong aquifer sits underneath. How deep that contact lies beneath a particular stand is the main unknown in any quote here. |
| Karoo outliers and surface deposits | Scattered through old pre-Karoo depressions across the ground south of the city | Softer material filling old depressions in the older rock. It needs casing, and its extent cannot be read off the surface. |
Send your street and what the water is for, and get an itemised quote for Rietvalleirand.
Get a Rietvalleirand Borehole QuoteWhat That Means for Your Borehole
- Depth is genuinely uncertain here because it depends on where the dolomite contact sits under your stand.
- Two neighbouring stands can need very different depths which is a function of the faulted contact rather than of workmanship.
- Casing requirements vary with the cover and Karoo material where present adds to it.
Where We Work Around Rietvalleirand
- Rietvalleirand and Rietvallei Extension stands
- Slopes toward the Rietvlei catchment
- Elardus Park boundary
- Wingate Park approaches
- Moreleta Park side
- Smallholdings to the south
- Complexes and cluster developments
What to Watch For Here
Two separate dolomite bodies sit south of the city. Faulting has duplicated the dolomite outcrop, so there is a western body around the Fountains and an eastern body in the valley above Rietvlei, separated by Pretoria Group rock. Rietvalleirand sits toward the eastern one, and knowing which side of that structure a stand falls on changes the expected depth.
Proximity to the reserve and the dam matters. Rietvlei Nature Reserve and its catchment lie immediately to the south, and working near a protected catchment carries conditions worth confirming with the metro in advance.
What the Water Is Used For
- Keeping established gardens alive from June to October
- Continuity cover during water interruptions
- Pool top-up, once the water has been tested for it
- Estate common property and verge irrigation
- Lowering a water bill driven mostly by outdoor use
Wellpoint or Borehole?
Not viable across this ground. Rock sits close to surface over most of it and the water table is below the practical suction lift of a surface pump. A driven point has nothing to penetrate.
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.
There is an additional step on dolomite. Stability classifications for this land sit with the Council for Geoscience and development on it falls under SANS 1936, so the City may want sight of that before a rig is permitted on the stand. Raise it early; the delay, if there is one, is in the approval rather than in the drilling.
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 | Depth to the dolomite contact is the variable. Shale drills quickly; quartzite bands and the dolomite below do not. |
| uPVC casing, installed, per metre | R400 - R700 /m | Driven by how much soft cover sits above competent rock. On this ground that can be weathered shale, Karoo material, or both. |
| 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.
Rietvalleirand Borehole FAQs
Why are there two dolomite areas south of Pretoria?
Faulting duplicated the outcrop, which produced a western dolomite body around the Fountains valley and an eastern one in the valley above Rietvlei Dam, with Pretoria Group rocks between them.
For drilling purposes that matters because expected depth to dolomite differs between the two, and stands near the boundary can go either way.
Are yields good in Rietvalleirand?
Where a borehole reaches the dolomite and intersects a productive structure, they can be strong. The springs in this valley discharge from that same rock.
Where it does not, results are more modest. That variability is inherent to karst ground rather than a reflection of how the hole was drilled.
Is drilling allowed near the Rietvlei catchment?
Boreholes are drilled in the area, but working close to a protected catchment brings conditions worth confirming with the City of Tshwane beforehand.
Registration of the completed borehole applies regardless, and abstraction beyond reasonable domestic use raises a separate National Water Act question.
What should I test the water for here?
A full SANS 241 analysis is the sensible starting point rather than a partial test. Hardness is likely if the water comes from dolomite.
Where there are smallholdings and septic systems in the catchment upslope, microbiological parameters and nitrate are worth particular attention, and worth retesting after heavy rain.
DRILLING IN RIETVALLEIRAND?
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