Sir Lowry's Pass sits on hard mountain rock where yields depend entirely on intersecting fractures.
Access on the pass-side properties is the other constraint worth settling early.
What Is Under Sir Lowry's Pass
| 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 Sir Lowry's Pass.
Get a Sir Lowry's Pass Borehole QuoteWhat That Means for Your Borehole
- Hard-rock rates and hard-rock uncertainty travel together. Depth follows the fractures, not a plan.
- Measure salinity on properties close to the shoreline.
- Small stands limit siting, which reduces what a survey can offer beyond confirming the one available position.
Where We Work Around Sir Lowry's Pass
- Sir Lowry's Pass Village
- The pass road properties
- Gordon's Bay and Somerset West approaches
- Smallholdings on the lower slopes
- Grabouw-side approaches
- Larger stands on the mountain ground
- Agricultural and equestrian properties
What to Watch For Here
Fracture-dependent yield with hard-rock rates is the combination here. Drilling further into unfractured sandstone or granite adds cost without adding water, which makes the siting decision the one worth spending on.
Slope access constrains rigs on the pass-side stands, where steep ground and narrow approaches are common.
What the Water Is Used For
- Smallholding irrigation and livestock supply
- Garden irrigation on the larger stands
- Agricultural and equestrian property supply
- Guesthouse and hospitality grounds
- Standby supply where municipal reliability is a concern
- Landscape irrigation on mountain properties
Wellpoint or Borehole?
Rarely viable. There is little sand of usable depth and hard rock sits close to surface, so a driven point has nothing to penetrate. A drilled borehole is effectively the only route on the great majority of properties here.
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.
Sir Lowry's Pass Borehole FAQs
What yield can Sir Lowry's Pass ground give?
It depends entirely on whether the hole intersects a water-bearing fracture, because this is hard mountain rock where water occupies fractures rather than pore spaces.
Holes that hit one can do well; holes that miss produce little regardless of depth. That makes siting the decision worth paying for.
Is drilling costly on the pass?
Generally yes. Hard quartzitic sandstone and granite drill slowly, putting the per-metre rate toward the upper end, and depth is unpredictable because it follows the fractures.
Slope access can also push mobilisation up. Both should appear as separate line items on the quote.
Can a smallholding here rely on groundwater?
Where the borehole intersects a productive fracture, yes, with storage to cover peak demand. Where it does not, the property may need to plan around a modest supply.
Extended yield testing is essential before sizing anything, because a fracture-fed hole can blow well briefly and sustain far less.
Is access difficult on pass-side properties?
It can be. Steep ground and narrow approaches are common along the pass, and a truck-mounted rig needs both a route in and a working area.
Establishing that at a site visit avoids quoting for a position that turns out to be unreachable.
DRILLING IN SIR LOWRY'S PASS?
Send your street and what you need the water for, and get an itemised quote.
Get My Free QuoteGet a Borehole Quote in Sir Lowry's Pass
Tell us where you are and what the water is for.
Client Reviews
Powered by leaderr
