1. Discussion Document for Scoping Phase
Ecological and Environmental Impacts of Large-scale Groundwater Development in the Table Mountain Group (TMG) Aquifer System
Discussion Document for Scoping Phase

2. Table of Contents 1 Purpose of this document
2 An introduction to groundwater
3 Groundwater interactions in the environment
4 Assessing Groundwater Dependence
5 References
6 Glossary of hydrogeological terms
1 Purpose of this Document
1.1 The project
1.1.1 The deliverables
1.2 The team
1.3 The plan
1.4 A one-day Workshop
2 An introduction to groundwater
2.1 What is groundwater
2.2 Types of aquifers
3.1 Table Mountain Group: Geological pattern and process
3.2 Structure and Functioning of the Deep fractured-rock Table Mountain Group aquifer
2.3 Chemistry
2.4 Why the confined TMG aquifer is being explored for bulk water supply.
2.5 Types of TMG aquifer settings
3 Groundwater interactions in the environment
3.1 Interactions with non-marine aquatic ecosystems
3.1.1 Surface water bodies
3.1.2 Subsurface water bodies
3.2 Interactions with terrestrial ecosystems
3.3 Interactions with marine ecosystems
4 Assessing Groundwater Dependence
4.1 The nature of groundwater dependency
5 References
6 Glossary of hydrogeological terms

3. Primary Aquifers:
Spaces formed at the same time as the geological formation, for instance intergranular porosity in sand (e.g., alluvial deposits .
Secondary Aquifers:
Spaces formed after the geological formation, such as fractures in hard rock.

5. TMG Aquifers

6. TMG Settings

7. Groundwater interactions in the environment
Interactions with non-marine aquatic ecosystems
Surface water bodies
Subsurface water bodies
Interactions with terrestrial ecosystems
Interactions with marine ecosystems

8. Groundwater dependence
A groundwater dependent ecosystem, or component of an ecosystem, can be defined as:
‘An ecosystem, or component of an ecosystem, that would be significantly altered by a change in the volume and/or temporal distribution of its groundwater supply’.
Furthermore
groundwater use = groundwater dependence;
groundwater use = use of TMG groundwater;
abstraction of TMG water = reduce supply to a GWDE.