Is a driller legally required to give me a borehole completion report?

South African water law, administered by the Department of Water and Sanitation, requires that boreholes used for water supply be registered and that relevant drilling data be submitted. While enforcement has historically been inconsistent, the DWS registration process effectively cannot be completed accurately without a completion report. Your strongest lever is a contractual clause tying final payment to delivery of the document.

What is the difference between a borehole log and a borehole registration certificate?

The borehole log (or drilling log) is the technical record compiled by the driller during the drilling operation. A registration certificate is the administrative acknowledgement issued by DWS after you submit registration documents, which typically include data from the log. The log is the source document; the registration certificate is the outcome of submitting it.

My driller gave me a one-page summary. Is that sufficient?

Almost certainly not, unless that single page contains every element listed in this article — strata at each depth interval, water strike depths, casing specification, static level, pumping test data with drawdown, recovery rate, and the driller's registration number. A summary sheet that gives only total depth and a yield figure in litres per hour is not a complete completion report and is not adequate for DWS registration or future pump servicing.

Can I use the completion report to choose a water treatment system?

The strata log can give a water treatment professional useful geological context — for instance, whether the borehole passes through formations associated with iron, manganese or nitrate contamination. However, the log does not replace laboratory water quality testing against SANS 241. Always submit a water sample to a SANAS-accredited laboratory before selecting any treatment approach.

What happens to the completion report when I sell the property?

A borehole is a disclosed feature of the property and prospective buyers or their conveyancers may request the completion report as part of due diligence. An incomplete or absent log can delay transfer or reduce buyer confidence. Keeping the original report in your property file from day one avoids that complication — our guide on selling a house with a borehole covers what else buyers typically ask about.

The Borehole Drilling Log: What the Driller's Completion Report Should Show

Most homeowners spend weeks comparing borehole quotes, then accept a single page invoice as the only paperwork once drilling is done. That is the wrong way around. The document that actually protects you — and that South African water law effectively requires you to keep — is the driller’s completion report, commonly called a borehole log or drilling log. Understanding what it must contain lets you hold any driller to account before you release the final payment.

What a Borehole Log Actually Is

A borehole log is a sequential, layer-by-layer record of everything the drill bit encountered from surface to total depth. A qualified driller completes it in real time during the drilling operation, recording observations at regular depth intervals — typically every metre or every change in geology. It is not a marketing document and it is not a receipt; it is a technical site record that should survive the borehole’s entire working life, which can be decades.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) expects borehole owners to submit completion data as part of the registration process — see our guide on borehole registration with DWS for the full procedure. Without a proper log, that registration cannot be done accurately, and an unregistered borehole sits in a legal grey area that can complicate property transactions later.

The Core Elements Every Completion Report Must Include

A credible borehole log contains at minimum the following sections. If any are missing, ask for them in writing before signing off.

Section	What it should show
Site identification	Stand address, GPS coordinates, owner name, driller’s company and DWAF/GBCSA registration number
Drilling method	Rotary air, percussion, or other — affects how strata descriptions are interpreted
Strata log	Rock or soil type at each depth interval, colour, hardness and estimated fracture zones
Water strikes	Exact depth of every water-bearing fracture encountered, estimated yield at each strike
Casing record	Pipe material (usually uPVC or steel), diameter, and depths from-to
Grout/seal log	Depth and type of surface seal to prevent surface water ingress
Static water level	The resting water level measured before pumping, in metres below surface
Pumping test result	Yield in litres per hour or cubic metres per hour at a given drawdown and duration
Rest water level post-test	Level measured after the pump has been off for a set recovery period
Recommended pump setting	The depth at which the pump should be installed, based on safe yield and drawdown data
Total depth	Final drilled depth in metres below ground level
Driller’s declaration	Signature, date and registration number confirming the record is accurate

If the report you receive is a single paragraph or only lists depth and yield as round numbers, treat that as a red flag.

Why Water Strike Depths Matter More Than Total Depth

Drillers are sometimes paid per metre, which creates an incentive to drill deeper than necessary. A proper strata log with water strike depths lets you verify that the recommended total depth was actually justified by the geology. If the driller hit a productive fracture at 42 metres and kept drilling to 80 metres without a clear reason, you have grounds to question the invoice.

Water strike depths also determine where your casing should terminate and where your pump should sit. A report that gives you only total depth and a final yield number cannot tell you whether the productive zone is near the top of the hole or near the bottom — and that distinction matters for pump selection, borehole longevity, and what happens if the water table drops in a dry year.

Pumping Test Data: The Number That Actually Governs Your System

Yield is the figure homeowners remember, but raw yield without context is misleading. The completion report should show yield as measured during a step-drawdown or constant-rate pumping test, expressed at a specific pumping rate over a specific duration, alongside the corresponding drawdown (how far the water level dropped during pumping) and the recovery rate after the pump stopped.

This data determines the sustainable yield — the rate at which you can pump continuously without depleting the aquifer. Oversizing a pump relative to sustainable yield is one of the most common reasons boreholes run dry prematurely. Insist on seeing the test data, not just the headline litres-per-hour figure.

Unsure whether a driller you've quoted will provide a complete log? Compare 3 free quotes — vetted installers, no obligation.

Water Quality: What the Log Does and Does Not Tell You

A drilling log records geology and hydrology; it is not a water quality certificate. The strata description may hint at potential contaminants — for instance, a borehole drilled through dolomitic ground or near an industrial area carries different risk profiles than one drilled through granite — but those hints are no substitute for laboratory analysis.

SANS 241 (2024 edition) is the South African standard against which drinking-water quality is assessed. Before you connect borehole water to any internal supply or irrigation system that touches food crops, have a SANAS-accredited laboratory test the water for the parameters relevant to your local geology. Test first, treat second. The drilling log can help your water treatment professional understand the geological context, but the chemistry must be confirmed independently.

What to Do Before Paying the Final Invoice

Your contract should always tie the final payment to delivery of the completion report — see our full checklist of what to get in writing before work begins. In practice, a sequence that protects you looks like this:

At contract stage: Specify that a complete borehole log conforming to DWS requirements is a condition of final payment.
During drilling: Ask to see the log being compiled. Reputable drillers keep it updated in real time and will not object to a site visit.
Before final payment: Verify that all sections in the table above are present. Check that the driller’s registration number appears on the document and can be verified with the Groundwater Division or relevant provincial authority.
After sign-off: Keep at least two copies — one physical, one digital. Attach the log to your property file. If you ever sell the property, the log is a material document that any informed buyer or conveyancer may ask for, as our guide on selling a house with a borehole explains.

If a driller cannot or will not produce a proper completion report, that alone is sufficient reason to withhold payment and escalate the dispute in writing.

How WaterQuotes Vets Drillers on Documentation Standards

One of the criteria we apply when deciding whether to add a drilling contractor to our panel is whether they routinely issue full completion reports as a standard deliverable rather than as an optional extra. You can read exactly what our vetting process covers on the how we vet installers page. A vetted driller should treat the borehole log as a professional obligation, not a favour.

Ready to get started with installers who treat proper documentation as standard practice? Request your three free quotes — no obligation, no pressure.

Keeping the Record for the Life of the Borehole

Boreholes do not come with expiry dates. A well-sited and properly maintained borehole can serve a household for 20 to 40 years. Over that span, water levels fluctuate, pumps wear out and get replaced, and geological understanding of the area improves. Every time a service technician or pump installer works on your borehole, the original completion report is the baseline against which they should be working. Losing it is not a minor inconvenience — it can mean the next pump is set at the wrong depth, or that a later driller cannot accurately advise on deepening or rehabilitation.

Store the report with your title deed, not in the garage.