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Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 23 February 2011 Cities of the world are under threat because of water quality issues, United Nations Habitat says. “The fact of the matter is that our cities in the world are under threat. Johannesburg is [...] Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 21 July 2010 Millions of litres of highly acidic mine water is rising up under Johannesburg and, if left unchecked, could spill out into its streets some 18 months from now, Parliament’s water affairs portfolio committee hears.  The last working mine still pumping out water in the Eastern Basin was Grootvlei The acid water is currently about 600 metres below the city’s surface, but is rising at a rate of between 0.6 and 0.9 metres a day, water affairs deputy director water quality management Marius Keet told MPs. “[It] can have catastrophic consequences for the Johannesburg central business district if not stopped in time. A new pumping station and upgrades to the high-density sludge treatment works are urgently required to stop disaster,” he warned. Speaking at the briefing, activist Mariette Liefferink, from the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, said the rising mine water posed an “enormous threat”, which would become worse if remedial actions were further delayed. “This environmental problem is second [in South Africa] only to global warming in terms of its impact, and poses a serious risk to the Witwatersrand as a whole. At the rate it is rising, the basin [under Johannesburg] will be fully flooded in about 18 months” She said the rising mine water had the same acidity as vinegar or lemon juice, and was a legacy of 120 years of gold mining in the region. Acid water is formed underground when old shafts and tunnels fill up. The water oxidises with the sulphide mineral iron pyrite, better known as fool’s gold. The water then fills the mine and starts decanting into the environment, in a process known as acid mine drainage. Keet said the problem was not just confined to Johannesburg, which is located atop one of several major mining “basins” in the Witwatersrand, known as the Central Basin. Continue reading Johannesburg CBD threatened by rising acidic water Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 19 April 2010 The Blue Drop 2010 report released at the Water Institute of South Africa conference in Durban warned that the Department of Water Affairs had no confidence in the drinking water supply and management in the [...] Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 18 March 2010 Tap water in the 2010 Soccer World Cup host cities is safe to drink; the water affairs department assured soccer fans on Wednesday.
According to the document all nine host cities – Cape Town, Ethekwini, Johannesburg, Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Rustenburg and Pretoria – have achieved Blue Drop status. Blue Drop certification means the city concerned has scored 95% or higher for its compliance with chemical and microbiological standards. Continue reading 2010 tap water is safe to drink Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 12 March 2010 Millions of litres of highly toxic and acidic water will flow out of Johannesburg’s mines and swamp the city over the next two years, causing structural damage to buildings and severely affecting residents’ health.  Johannesburg. Toxic water will eat away at the city's steel foundations Scientists predict that if drastic steps are not immediately taken to plug disused mine shafts and pump out the acid mine drainage, the poisonous water will flow into rivers and low-lying areas in the country’s most populous city at a rate of up to 70 megalitres a day – as much as 1400 average-sized swimming pools. A joint report of the departments of water affairs, mineral resources and environmental affairs, dated March 2009, was commissioned by water affairs director-general Pam Yako after concerns raised by activist group Federation for a Sustainable Environment. It says the grave acid mine drainage situation in Gauteng: - Poses a potentially “catastrophic” threat to Johannesburg residents. The toxic water will eat away at steel in the foundations of buildings in the city; Mariette Liefferink, chief executive of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, said long-term exposure to drinking water contaminated with acid mine drainage leads to increased rates of cancer, decreased brain function, and skin lesions. Scientists say the toxic water will wreak havoc with the city’s water supply and affect farming along the Vaal River. Continue reading Toxic minerals and acids at dangerous level |
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