Sinenjongo

So what is next?

are they going to force everyone with a backup water tank to register it as well just in case you pump your water back in to their system?

🥴

Just some advice on boreholes and non-return valves... I learned the hard way which wasted months of my time and about R10k on an unnecessary replacement pump and motor.
Your borehole pump will have a non-return valve built in, but you should add another external non-return valve within 7m of the pump (mine is directly on top of the pump) as the internal valve will not handle the pressure of 70m of water hammer when the motor stops and will probably fail over time. My water level is at 120m with a 1.1kw motor and a non-return at the surface and it took 2 months for my pump to fail and no longer start under pressure due to high current draw.
After getting a lot of bs advice that my panels were wrong, my solar vsd probably needed replacing, then a new motor and then a new pump, I fixed it by adding a non-return valve above the pump and voila, all works perfectly again with original pump and motor.
You should also have a non-return valve on approx every 50m of pipe to reduce water hammer damaging your pump and connections etc. I think it's good practice to make everything last longer.
Welcome to the world of boreholes and pumps, it is much like the solar world with lots of cowboys and plenty of sales people who don't know what they are talking about.

Hey Oelof,
 
I dont disagree with anyone guess it comes down to your preference as well.
Having an above ground tank for storage will be beneficial as you will be able to have better control over usage. Having it pump directly from the hole to the house could be tricky unless your recovery rate on the hole is crazy high.
So even in the dry season when the recovery rate on the inevitably becomes longer, you will be safe knowing that your tank is full.
VSD pump for the win in my opinion, I will soon be upgrading to the DAB EsyBox Mini. I currently have a Hurricane booster pump and when you open the tap the pump is at full tilt whether you open the tap 5% or 100%…its a 1.1kw pump but pulls like 1.5-1.7kw when its on. With a VSD they are more efficient where the power consumption and flow rate adjusts accordingly to the demand you place when opening a tap…so its also more gentle on your inverter/s…it not heavy metal from the first second 🤣
I have a 0.55kw borehole pump from Hurricane Pumps as well, the tank has a float switch and will only switch the borehole pump on if the water drops below the level you set it at. Same as @Pieter v D. But at the moment its dry season so I am manually having to pump from the hole…so I will also be looking at using a Sonoff basic to control the borehole pump with more ease and also prevent the pump from being on when the hole is in recovery. During the wet season I had no issue tank would top up thoughout the day.
 
Good luck with the drilling, hope you used a specialist to pinpoint the drill location for you? Oh and DEFINITELY get a clean up crew as part of the process…

Oelof, the advice given is correct but the pump that is supplied by the tank does not need to be a VSD pump an ordinary vane pump or a centrifugal pump like the one in the photo will also work.
The reason why there is a tank or tanks is for water storage because the borehole pump typically deliver a flow of 1000l/h and if you open a tap and the borehole pump is off then there would be no water, if the borehole pump is on and you open a tap then you will get quite a surprise.
 
In order for the pressure pump to work there must be a height difference between the outlet of the tank and the inlet of the pressure pump so in other words the outlet of the tank must be higher than the inlet of the pressure pump even if the outlet of the tank is 200mm above the inlet of the pressure pump it will work once all the air is bleeded out to the inlet of the pump.
On the outlet of the pressure pump I would also look at a couple of pressure tanks like these, then the pressure pump does not start and stop every time a tap is opened if only a cup or two of water is used.

 
Another factor that must be considered with borehole water is, is it fit for human consumption so have the water tested and if need be invest in a filter system with a UV sterilizer.

Yes, this borehole was a game-changer, deep water is bug-free and this is as clear as lemonade.  
Until then my then girlfriend and I where pumping out of the river into a farm dam and using flocculant.
A couple of days in between while the tank settles.
My parents would now drink tea when visiting, they told me later that the tea had been too high protein for their tastes before the borehole.

I have a second-hand story of my own. Just outside Windhoek they were drilling this borehole. The site was right next to an old cement feeding trough used by animals, again the diviner said it had to be there. A drilling operator with a slightly larger than average circumference was working the machine, and the client was standing around with a calculator attempting to figure out how much money he had to continue drilling. At that moment they drilled into an underground cavern and the entire spinning train of drilling machine dropped by a some distance while at the same time water was spraying everywhere. The client had such a fright, he just dropped everything and ran away some distance before turning around and cautiously returning. Water spraying everywhere and the drill operator had gone missing.
After eventually turning off the air pressure, they found the operator. He was lying on his back in the feeding trough, like a tortoise, unable to get back up.

I used a 1500 watt Ac element connected to a timer set to go on at 10:00 to 15:00 with a separate breaker. If it is to cloudy i use my LP Gas geyser for hot water. 

Here is an easy design that switches automatically to tank water when there is no municipal water. I've been using it for almost 20 years.
If you want to use tank water even when municipal water is available just close the valve at the bottom next to the 1-way valve.