The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) has warned citizens that it is illegal to sell water from private boreholes.
It said in a statement on Wednesday that private boreholes were meant to benefit the occupants of the piece of land or property on which the borehole has been drilled, and that the recent practice of the secondary trade of water, particularly observed in the drought-stricken Western Cape, was illegal.
“If a private borehole is to be commercialised, a requisite licence needs be applied for,” the statement said.