The Department of Water and Sanitation has denounced the sale of private borehole water after it says it was alerted to a trend of people selling water from their private boreholes.

The Department says this recent practice of the secondary trade of water, particularly in the Western Cape, is illegal.

“Any such sale would need a requisite licence to be applied for. It is therefore imperative to bring to the attention of all South Africans that private boreholes are meant to operate for the benefit of the occupants of the piece of land/property on which the borehole has been drilled.

“Private boreholes are for private use, for reasonable domestic use, and therefore not to be commercialised,” the department explains.

Section 22 of the Water Services Act prohibits the transaction on water without authorisation.

“In the main, the National Water Act remains the principal piece of legislation guiding any use of water in the country,” the department concludes.