The Borehole Drilling Process in Zimbabwe - A Beginners Guide!

Water shortages in most urban areas in Zimbabwe have driven the need for alternative water sources.

Short term solutions include purchasing water from bulk water suppliers, walking the short or long distance to queue at communal boreholes set up by local municipal authorities or resorting to rain harvesting in the rainy season. However, none of these options offers the convenience, savings and long term investment advantages granted by drilling a borehole in your own yard.

This blog is a guide for all our Zimbabwean clientele considering drilling a borehole but is stumped by what is involved. Even if you are still at the planning stage or your plans for drilling a borehole are still a few years away, bookmark this article for use when you are ready! Enjoy this read!

1. Select A Borehole Drilling Company In Zimbabwe: A lot of money goes into the drilling of a borehole with most Zimbabwean borehole drilling companies charging upwards of USD$1300, we can all agree that is quite a large sum of money for most. It is therefore important to exercise due diligence when choosing your contractor. Consider factors such as reputation, look them up online, enter their name into search engines, ask for references and follow up, take your time, compare at least three quotes for the best deal and you will be good to go!

2. Sitting Borehole Location: This job is done by the hydrogeologist, who determines where the water is and how it will be accessed at the lowest cost. This is a very important step as it reduces the costly risks of drilling into water and sewer lines.

3. Drilling and Casing Of Borehole: Once the hydrogeologist points out the ideal location the next step can begin. This step requires due diligence in proper borehole design, professional construction and careful drilling. Basically, your contractor will drill a vertical hole, insert borehole casings to support the borehole wall, set up a borehole well screen to allow clean water from the aquifer to enter the borehole. Ensure that the borehole driller uses Proplastics quality borehole casings which will last you a lifetime.

4. Borehole Cleaning: At this point, your borehole will be a muddy mess littered with debris from the drilling process such as caked mud, dirty water and oil from the drilling rig. The cleaning process allows all these to be removed and your contractor will employ one of several methods to do this. After the cleaning has been done, a sanitary seal is placed on the borehole to deter further contamination of the water source.

This step is critical as it ensures the smooth performance of the borehole and water quality.

5. Pumping and Piping Borehole: This is the final stage and the type of pump system installed will be determined by several factors such as the yield of the borehole and your needs.

We do hope that this blog will help you when you seek to understand the borehole drilling process!