Simon's Town has hard rock, steep stands and constrained access, with heritage properties adding their own limitations.
Access, not geology, is what decides most projects here.
What Is Under Simon's Town
| Formation | Where it sits | What it means for drilling |
|---|---|---|
| Table Mountain Group sandstone | The mountain ground rising directly behind and above the properties | Hard quartzitic rock where water occupies fractures. Yield depends on intersecting them rather than on depth reached. |
| Cape Granite Suite | The lower ground and coastal margin | Weathered mantle and jointing carry the water. Depth to fresh rock varies over short distances. |
| Thin coastal and slope deposits | The narrow strip along the shoreline and at the foot of the slopes | Generally too thin and variable to be a target in their own right. |
Send your street and what the water is for, and get an itemised quote for Simon's Town.
Get a Simon's Town Borehole QuoteWhat That Means for Your Borehole
- The site visit matters more than the geology conversation on stands this steep and this tight.
- Coastal properties should have salinity measured as a matter of course.
- Where only one drilling position exists, a survey confirms it rather than offering alternatives.
Where We Work Around Simon's Town
- Simon's Town and the historic village
- Glencairn and Welcome Glen approaches
- Murdock Valley and Boulders side
- Da Gama Park and Red Hill approaches
- Naval and institutional properties
- Holiday and rental stands
- Properties on the slopes above the town
What to Watch For Here
Steep, terraced stands with narrow access are the norm here, and a truck-mounted rig needs both a route and a working area. On many of the older village properties there is genuinely neither, and that is better established early.
Heritage constraints apply on some properties in the historic areas, which can affect what is permitted at surface. Worth checking alongside the usual registration.
What the Water Is Used For
- Garden irrigation on the larger stands
- Grounds at holiday and rental properties
- Guesthouse and hospitality grounds
- Institutional property supply
- Topping up the pool, once the analysis supports it
- Standby supply where reliability is a concern
Wellpoint or Borehole?
Almost never an option here. Rock close to surface and negligible sand depth leave nothing for a point to be driven into, so a properly constructed borehole is the realistic route to groundwater on these properties.
Registration and Abstraction
Boreholes and wellpoints here must be registered with the City of Cape Town. Separately, the National Water Act governs how much you may abstract: reasonable domestic use and small-scale garden watering generally fall under Schedule 1, while larger abstraction may require registration or a water use authorisation from the Department of Water and Sanitation. Requirements change, so confirm your position before drilling.
Related Services
For the drilling process itself, the geology across the wider metro and how a quote is put together, see Borehole Drilling Cape Town.
Borehole Prices in This Area
Drilling is charged per metre, so depth drives the total. The ranges below are framed for local ground conditions and access.
| Item | Indicative range | What moves it locally |
|---|---|---|
| Drilling, per metre | R600 - R1,300 /m | Hard quartzitic sandstone and granite are the slowest drilling in the region, and access is often constrained. |
| uPVC casing, installed, per metre | R400 - R700 /m | Diameter and class. Weathered-zone thickness is not known until drilling starts. |
| Mobilisation and site establishment | R2,500 - R9,000 | Access and site conditions move this; a site visit settles it before quoting. |
| Water survey | R5,000 - R12,000 | Targets structure rather than depth. Worth most where yield is fracture-dependent. |
| Yield testing | R3,500 - R15,000 | Establishes the sustainable rate that pump selection depends on. |
| Pump, supplied and installed | R15,000 - R45,000 | Greater depth means more head, which means a larger pump and heavier cable. |
| Storage and booster | R12,000 - R35,000 | Needed wherever peak demand exceeds the borehole's sustainable rate. |
| Typical complete project | R95,000 - R250,000+ | Everything above, excluding treatment, which depends entirely on the water analysis. |
These are indicative ranges, not a quotation. They are compiled from published South African supplier and contractor pricing to give you a starting point for budgeting. They are not our rate card, and no figure here is a commitment.
Treat them as a broad guide only. Published borehole pricing in South Africa varies enormously - different 2026 guides quote per-metre drilling rates for the same province that differ by a factor of three - because depth, geology, access, specification, distance and fuel costs all move the number. Depth in particular is not known until the hole is finished. Figures generally exclude VAT unless noted, and change over time. Only an itemised written quote against your actual site means anything.
Simon's Town Borehole FAQs
Can a rig reach a Simon's Town property?
It is the deciding question here rather than a formality. Steep terraced stands with narrow access are the norm, and a truck-mounted rig needs both a route in and a working area at the drilling point.
On many older village properties there is genuinely neither, which is better known before a quote than after.
Do heritage rules affect drilling here?
They can on properties in the historic areas, particularly regarding what is permitted at surface. It is worth checking alongside the usual City registration rather than assuming.
The borehole itself is usually less of an issue than visible headworks, tanks and equipment.
How deep will a Simon's Town borehole go?
Unpredictably. The ground is hard sandstone and granite where water sits in fractures, so depth is set by where a fracture is intersected rather than by a standard target.
That is why drilling is quoted per metre here, and why budgeting toward the upper end of the expected range is sensible.
Is the water quality good in Simon's Town?
Fractured hard-rock water behind a properly sealed casing is often better protected than shallow sandy water, but proximity to the sea makes salinity worth measuring on lower properties.
Test rather than assume in either direction, and analyse against what you actually intend to use the water for.
DRILLING IN SIMON'S TOWN?
Send your street and what you need the water for, and get an itemised quote.
Get My Free QuoteGet a Borehole Quote in Simon's Town
Tell us where you are and what the water is for.
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