Gillitts sits between Hillcrest and Kloof in the Upper Highway area, on tillite and sandstone ground with large wooded stands.
Hard drilling and fracture-dependent yields, with substantial irrigation demand on established properties.
What Is Under Gillitts
The formations below are what a rig actually meets on a Gillitts property, and between them they govern the depth, the casing requirement and what the hole will realistically give you.
| Formation | Where it sits | What it means for drilling |
|---|---|---|
| Dwyka Group tillite | The dominant formation beneath much of the Upper Highway area | Hard, massive and a genuinely poor aquifer. Water comes from fracturing and weathering rather than from the rock itself, and yields are frequently low. |
| Natal Group sandstone | Where it survives above the tillite on the higher ground | A better prospect than the tillite, fractured and moderately productive where present. |
| Basement granite and gneiss | Beneath the sequence | Water in the weathered mantle and in jointing. Depth to fresh rock varies considerably across the area. |
Send your street and what the water is for, and get an itemised quote for Gillitts.
Get a Gillitts Borehole QuoteWhat That Means for Your Borehole
- This is the hardest ground in the Durban area to get a good yield from, and honest contractors say so before drilling rather than after.
- Structure is everything. Fracture zones, dykes and contacts carry what water there is. The tillite between them carries very little.
- A survey is worth more here than almost anywhere, because the cost of a poorly sited hole on tillite is high and the odds without siting are poor.
Where We Work Around Gillitts
- Gillitts central and the village
- Kloof and Hillcrest boundaries
- Everton and Forest Hills approaches
- Winston Park side
- Large wooded stands
- Smallholdings on the edges
What to Watch For Here
Mature trees and wooded stands constrain rig access, and the best target position is sometimes not the reachable one.
Tillite drilling is slow and costly where encountered, which makes accurate siting the main cost control.
What the Water Is Used For
- Irrigation for large gardens and estate grounds
- Entrance landscaping and common-area planting
- Keeping the pool level up, subject to the water analysis
- Standby supply for larger properties
- Washing down driveways, paving and vehicles
Wellpoint or Borehole?
Not viable. Dwyka tillite near surface gives a driven point nothing to work with, and there is no shallow sand aquifer across most of the area.
Water Quality in Gillitts
Where a hole on this ground does produce, the water is usually good quality and moderately hard. Iron appears regularly. The constraint here is quantity rather than quality, which is the reverse of the coastal picture.
A water analysis is what turns that from a general expectation into a number for your specific hole, and treatment should be specified against the result rather than against the area's reputation.
Registration and Abstraction
eThekwini requires boreholes to be registered with eThekwini Water and Sanitation, and prohibits any cross-connection between borehole water and the municipal supply. The National Water Act governs how much you may abstract: reasonable domestic use generally falls under Schedule 1, while irrigation or commercial volumes may require registration or a water use authorisation from the Department of Water and Sanitation. Requirements change, so confirm your position before drilling.
Related Services
For the drilling process itself, the geology across the rest of the country and how a quote is put together, see Borehole Installers South Africa.
Borehole Prices in Gillitts
Drilling is charged per metre, so depth drives the total. The ranges below are framed for local ground conditions and access.
| Item | Indicative range | What moves it locally |
|---|---|---|
| Drilling, per metre | R500 - R1,200 /m | Tillite is hard, slow drilling, and a second position is needed more often here than elsewhere. |
| uPVC casing, installed, per metre | R400 - R750 /m | The weathered zone above fresh rock needs casing; its thickness varies with position. |
| Mobilisation and site establishment | R3,000 - R10,000 | Access and site conditions move this; a site visit settles it before quoting. |
| Water survey | R5,000 - R12,000 | Targets structure rather than depth. Worth most where yield is fracture-dependent. |
| Yield testing | R3,500 - R15,000 | Establishes the sustainable rate that pump selection depends on. |
| Pump, supplied and installed | R15,000 - R45,000 | Greater depth means more head, which means a larger pump and heavier cable. |
| Storage and booster | R12,000 - R35,000 | Needed wherever peak demand exceeds the borehole's sustainable rate. |
| Typical complete project | R80,000 - R210,000+ | Everything above, excluding treatment, which depends entirely on the water analysis. |
These are indicative ranges, not a quotation. They are compiled from published South African supplier and contractor pricing to give you a starting point for budgeting. They are not our rate card, and no figure here is a commitment.
Treat them as a broad guide only. Published borehole pricing in South Africa varies enormously - different 2026 guides quote per-metre drilling rates for the same province that differ by a factor of three - because depth, geology, access, specification, distance and fuel costs all move the number. Depth in particular is not known until the hole is finished. Figures generally exclude VAT unless noted, and change over time. Only an itemised written quote against your actual site means anything.
Gillitts Borehole FAQs
Is Gillitts hard drilling ground?
In parts, yes. Dwyka tillite is among the hardest rock drilled anywhere in the country and progress through it is slow.
A ground assessment establishes the likely profile before you commit, which is what keeps the quote honest.
How much garden can a Gillitts borehole support?
That depends on the tested sustainable yield, which on this ground is moderate rather than generous.
Storage helps considerably. A tank lets a modest yield cover a large irrigation demand by filling steadily between cycles.
Is it worth drilling a borehole in Gillitts at all?
It can be, but this is ground where the honest answer is sometimes no. Dwyka tillite is a poor aquifer and low-yielding or dry holes are more common here than in most of the Durban area.
A geophysical survey materially changes the odds, and a contractor who quotes a job on this ground without discussing that risk with you is not being straight about it.
Why are yields so low in Gillitts?
Because tillite has almost no primary porosity. It does not hold water in the rock mass the way a sandstone or a sand aquifer does, so everything depends on intersecting a fracture zone or a contact.
Where a hole does find structure, the water is usually good. The difficulty is finding it, which is precisely what siting is for.
NEED A BOREHOLE IN GILLITTS?
Send your street and what you need the water for, and get an itemised quote.
Get My Free QuoteGet a Borehole Quote in Gillitts
Tell us where you are and what the water is for.
Client Reviews
Powered by leaderr
