Has the flow dropped off?
Borehole Rehabilitation South Africa is what you do before you drill a second hole. A hole that has lost flow is often clogged rather than finished, and cleaning it costs a fraction of a new one. It starts with a camera survey to find out which, because treating the wrong problem wastes the money either way.
- Know what cleaning a hole costs against drilling a new one, so you never pay too much.
- Say what the hole used to give and what it gives now, and quotes come back fast.
- From LEADERR APPROVED providers, vetted and backed by many verified 5-star reviews. Peace of mind that a camera goes down before any money is spent on treatment.
Say what the hole used to give and what it gives now, and get rehabilitation quotes.
Get the Best QuoteBorehole Rehabilitation Prices
Ballpark figures so you can check a quotation.
| Item | Ballpark price |
|---|---|
| Downhole camera survey | R3,500 - R9,500 |
| Airlifting and surging, domestic hole | R6,500 - R18,000 |
| Mechanical brushing and airlift | R9,500 - R28,000 |
| High pressure jetting, per hole | R12,000 - R35,000 |
| Chemical treatment and neutralising | R8,500 - R30,000 |
| Desilting the bottom of the hole | R4,500 - R15,000 |
| Yield test after treatment | R3,500 - R12,000 |
| Full rehabilitation, typical domestic hole | R15,000 - R45,000 |
| Deepening an existing hole, per metre | R550 - R1,100 |
Prices JUST UPDATED. Ballpark figures, rounded, excluding VAT. They reflect typical South African borehole drilling, pump and water treatment rates. They are not our prices or quotations, and no provider is bound by them. Drilling is quoted PER METRE and the depth is not known until the hole is down, so confirm what each quotation includes, such as mobilisation, casing, development and what you pay if no water is found.
What Clogs a Borehole
- Iron and manganese bacteria. A slime that builds on the screen and the pump. The most common cause in South Africa.
- Carbonate scale. Hard water deposits closing the slots in the screen.
- Fine sediment. Silt and clay drawn in over years, filling the bottom of the hole.
- Sand. A failed or wrongly sized screen letting the formation in.
- Collapsed or corroded casing. Old steel perforates, and then the hole takes in fines faster than it can be cleaned.
- Nothing at all. Sometimes the aquifer has dropped and the hole is fine. A camera tells you.
How It Is Done
- Camera survey first. A downhole camera shows the screen, the casing and how much silt is in the bottom.
- Airlifting. Compressed air surges the hole and lifts the loosened material out. The standard first step.
- Mechanical brushing. A wire brush on the string scours the casing and screen.
- High pressure jetting. Water jetted at the screen slots, working up the hole in stages.
- Chemical treatment. Acid or a dispersant for scale and bacterial slime, then neutralised and pumped to waste.
- Test and compare. A yield test afterwards against the figure before. That is the only measure of success.
Rehabilitate or Redrill
- Compare against a new hole. Rehabilitation is often a quarter to a half of drilling, with no dry hole risk.
- A clogged screen is worth treating. That is the case rehabilitation was invented for.
- A silted bottom is worth clearing. Especially if the pump has been sitting in it.
- Failed casing usually is not. A perforated steel casing will clog again, and relining is its own cost.
- A dropped aquifer is not a cleaning problem. Deepening or a new hole is the honest answer.
- Expect a range, not a promise. Nobody can guarantee recovered yield, and anyone who does is guessing.
Get a price for your own hole rather than a range.
Get the Best QuoteWhat Affects the Price
- What is wrong. Silt lifts out cheaply. Bacterial slime on a screen takes chemicals and time.
- How deep the hole is. Every method is slower and dearer the further down it works.
- Whether the pump comes out. It always does, and a corroded galvanised column makes that slow.
- How many methods are needed. Brushing plus jetting plus chemicals is three operations, not one.
- Waste disposal. Chemically treated water has to be neutralised and disposed of properly.
- Travel. A compressor and a rig on a rural site is a mobilisation charge of its own.
What to Include in Your Request
- What it used to give. And what it gives now, in litres an hour if you have it.
- When it changed. Suddenly or over years.
- The hole details. Depth, casing material, screen type and age if known.
- The water. Sand, iron staining, a smell, cloudiness.
- Any history. Previous cleaning, deepening or pump failures.
- The address. Suburb and town, so travel can be priced.
Before You Appoint a Contractor
- Insist on a camera survey first. Treating a hole without looking down it is spending blind.
- Get the before yield measured. Otherwise there is no way to tell whether it worked.
- Ask what happens if it does not improve. A reduced rate or a capped fee is sometimes offered. Ask.
- Ask about the waste. Where the chemicals and the lifted sludge go.
- Compare it to a new hole. Get a drilling quote alongside, so the choice is made on two numbers.
- Ask why it clogged. If it was iron bacteria, it will come back and a schedule is better than a surprise.
Borehole Rehabilitation FAQs
Can a borehole that has dried up be fixed?
Sometimes, and the distinction matters. A hole that has clogged, silted or scaled up can often be recovered by cleaning, usually for a quarter to a half of what a new hole costs. A hole where the water table itself has dropped below the screen has not clogged, and cleaning it will change nothing. A downhole camera and a yield measurement separate the two.
What does borehole rehabilitation cost?
A camera survey runs around R3,500 to R9,500, airlifting and surging R6,500 to R18,000, and a full programme with brushing, jetting and chemical treatment typically R15,000 to R45,000 on a domestic hole. Against R45,000 to R85,000 for a new hole with no guarantee of water, it is usually worth trying first.
How much yield will I get back?
Nobody can tell you in advance and no honest contractor will promise a figure. Recoveries range from almost nothing on a failed casing to most of the original yield on a hole clogged with iron bacteria. The camera survey is what makes the estimate better than a guess.
What is iron bacteria and why does it matter?
A naturally occurring organism that forms a reddish brown slime on screens, casing and pump components. It is not a health risk at the levels normally found but it is the most common reason a South African borehole loses yield, and it builds back after treatment, so a hole that has had it once is worth putting on a cleaning schedule.
Is chemical treatment safe for the aquifer?
Done properly, the chemical is contained to the hole, neutralised and pumped to waste rather than left in the ground. That containment and disposal is part of what you are paying for, so ask any contractor how they handle it. A cheap chemical clean that skips the neutralising step is not a saving.
Would deepening the hole be better?
If the camera shows sound casing and the water level has dropped, deepening can be a good answer at roughly R550 to R1,100 a metre, and it reuses the mobilisation and the existing hole. If the casing has failed or the screen is destroyed, a new hole is usually the cleaner spend.
Cleaning an existing hole is the first thing worth pricing Borehole Drillers South Africa and a far smaller job than a second borehole.
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