Research Article Page 1 of 7 The Grootfontein aquifer: Governance of a hydro- AUTHORS: social system at Nash equilibrium Jude E. Cobbing1 Maarten de Wit1 The Grootfontein groundwater aquifer is important to the water supply of the town Mahikeng in the AFFILIATION: North West Province of South Africa and to commercial agriculture in the Province, but the water 1AEON/ESSRI, Nelson Mandela table has fallen by up to 28 m as a consequence of over-abstraction since the 1980s. Institutional and University, Port Elizabeth, hydrogeological issues impact the aquifer in complex ways, described here as a hydro-social system. South Africa Whilst the hydrogeology is well understood and South African laws provide for sustainable groundwater CORRESPONDENCE TO: governance, poor stakeholder collaboration and other institutional problems mean that the over- Jude Cobbing abstraction is likely to persist – an example of an undesirable Nash equilibrium. The Grootfontein aquifer case shows that groundwater underpins wider social-ecological-economic systems, and that more EMAIL: holistic management – taking the institutional context into account – is needed to underpin economic
[email protected] growth, employment and other public outcomes. DATES: Significance: Received: 05 Aug. 2017 • The cost of better natural resource stewardship, including groundwater, is likely to be considerably less Revised: 26 Sep. 2017 than the losses that occur when it is absent. Accepted: 04 Jan. 2018 • If local groundwater was better managed, it could make water supplies in Mahikeng cheaper and more Published: 30 May 2018 reliable, which would in turn support local economic growth and employment. KEYWORDS: groundwater; management; Introduction institutions; transdisciplinarity; resilience Groundwater’s global social, economic and environmental importance contrasts with its low profile amongst policymakers and the general public.