Precipitec
Investment Company in Cape Town

Precipitec was founded in 1994 as an irrigation company but soon found that a large number of our customers were requesting wellpoints and boreholes.
The demand for boreholes became so large that we decided to invest in our own borehole drilling equipment.
The irrigation division has developed a reputation for excellence, and though we have concentrated largely on the domestic automated irrigation market, we have a number of large commercial customers.

Precipitec was founded in 1994 as an irrigation company but soon found that a large number of our customers were requesting wellpoints and boreholes. In 1995 we started drilling our own wellpoints and sub-contracted our borehole drilling. The demand for boreholes became so large that we decided to invest in our own borehole drilling equipment. We subsequently acquired two drilling rigs that we use today for both deep rock holes and mini boreholes. Our wellpoints are still drilled using a wash-bore technique done by hand. The irrigation division has developed a reputation for excellence, and though we have concentrated largely on the domestic automated irrigation market, we have a number of large commercial customers. Cape Town is notorious for having difficult geological drilling conditions often necessitating combinations of both the above mentioned drilling techniques on a single hole. Although groundwater is plentiful in the Western Cape it does involve more work than traditional methods. Having a borehole constructed and equipped is a substantial investment and just like other expensive purchases such motor cars, it will need to be serviced and maintained regularly. The minimum service interval should be no more than every two years. During a service we extract the submersible pump from the borehole. The two most common causes of wear in Cape Town boreholes is sand ingress into the bore and accumulation of iron oxide manganese. Sand is often found in seepage water bore holes which are typical in Cape Town and is a normal occurrence; it can cause gradual erosion of the pump impellors. An inspection will show this, and the necessary components are then replaced. Iron oxide and manganese deposits need to be removed, as they compromise the performance of the pump and can ultimately lead to the pump failing and causing the motor to overload and burn out. The inspection period for boreholes with such mineral content varies but if it is very high an annual inspection will ultimately save you in the long run. At least once every four years the borehole itself should be cleaned and re-developed. This is done after the pump is removed and a high volume high pressure air hose with specialised cleaning nozzle progressively is pushed down the borehole.