Is groundwater running out in the Western Cape, South Africa? Evaluating GRACE data to assess groundwater storage during droughts

Summary

Study region: The Western Cape (WC), South Africa. Study focus: The WC has become increasingly dependent on groundwater in recent years due to repeated droughts. A framework to monitor the regional groundwater levels is urgently required to sustainably manage the WC's water resources, since the region has inconsistent or unavailable monitoring data. Therefore, this study aims to understand how Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) data can be used to monitor groundwater storage variations (ΔGWS) in the WC. In-situ ΔGWS time-series from twelve aquifers in the WC were compared to GRACE and GLDAS data. New hydrological insights for the region: GRACE terrestrial water storage anomalies (ΔTWS) showed moderate positive correlation (r = 0.69) with in-situ ΔGWS from the Adelaide Subgroup Aquifer (ASA), an unconfined aquifer with large areal extent and large ΔGWS. The Table Mountain Group Upper Aquifer Unit (TMG UAU) and Cape Flats Aquifer (CFA) also showed significant positive correlations with GLDAS ΔGWS of 0.83 and 0.73, respectively. Our results suggest that ΔGWS in the ASA can be monitored using GRACE ΔTWS, while GLDAS ΔGWS data can be used to monitor ΔGWS in the unconfined TMG UAU and CFA. GRACE and GLDAS data may be suitable to monitor groundwater availability in other water- and data-scarce regions of Africa.