Tweelopiespruit | savingwater.co.za

AMD laid bare in Water Affairs report

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 20 February 2011

The stark and harsh reality of acid mine drainage (AMD) is laid bare in a report by the Department of Water Affairs.

Episodes of AMD decant are contaminating Tweelopiesspruit. Photo: Alistair-Clacherty

The document includes the findings of an interministerial committee team of experts on AMD, assembled in September to investigate the issue.

“Urgent reduction of water ingress into mine voids remained a high priority,” it says.

The department would neither confirm nor deny ownership of the document.

The document proposes various interventions for three areas: the West Rand (Western Basin), central Johannesburg (Central Basin) and the East Rand (Eastern Basin).

It also notes that recent heavy rain and resultant flooding in Gauteng raised concerns that these conditions would lead to more water flowing into mines and worsening AMD in the province.

“The recent occurrence of flooding is in essence a matter separate to that of AMD; however, cognisance must be taken that flood water has potential to enter mine workings and also increase AMD.”

The document points out that water in mine workings is an important environmental concern. Continue reading AMD laid bare in Water Affairs report

Acidic water reaches Cradle of Mankind

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 14 January 2011

Acidic mine water that has been bubbling out of an old ventilation shaft on the West Rand for the past year has now reached the Cradle of Mankind, and is believed to have caused the deaths of over 60 carp in a dam.

The whole shore area of the Tweelopiespruit is coloured dark orange. Photo: Alistair-Clacherty

This is the opinion of Dr Francois Durand of the Department of Zoology at the University of Johannesburg, after environmental experts found the dead fish in an irrigation dam in the Blaauwbankspruit.

This stream runs from the Tweelopiespruit, which springs from the radioactive Robinson lake outside Randfontein. From here it runs through the Krugersdorp game reserve, “over” the Sterkfontein Caves, right through the Cradle of Mankind up to the Crocodile River, which runs into the Hartbeespoort Dam.

Neil Norquoy from Wild Cave Adventures found the dead fish on the farm Koelenhof on Thursday.

Millions of litres

The farm is about 10km northeast of the place where millions of litres of acidic mine water has been leaking on the West Rand since last year.

The dam is situated about 3km northeast of the Sterkfontein Caves.

Norquoy said he was virtually convinced that the acidic mine water led to the deaths of the fish as the channels around the dam were a bright orange colour. The orange deposit was a sign of the large amount of iron in the acidic mine water.

Durand said the pollution had spread from the old Rand Uranium goldmine on the West Rand and has now spread north to within the Cradle of Mankind.

At this stage, it has already passed the Sterkfontein Caves as the Blaaubankspruit runs “over” the Sterkfontein Caves.

Water specialist Garfield Krige agreed with Durand and said he believed the acidic mine water of the West Rand had reached the Hartbeespoort Dam “long ago”. Continue reading Acidic water reaches Cradle of Mankind

Johannesburg CBD threatened by rising acidic water

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

Massive pollution threat to economic heartland

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 06 July 2010

A double whammy from the pollution legacy of more than 100 years of gold mining on the Witwatersrand, and inadequately maintained sewage works could leave South Africa’s economic heartland facing a water crisis of epic [...]

Government forced to deal with acid mine drainage

Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 15 June 2010

A coalition of environmental scientists and research teams yesterday forced the government’s hand in addressing 120 years of water pollution through acid mine drainage on the Witwatersrand.

Robinson Lake Dam uranium levels are 40 000 times higher than natural levels

The coalition, which had been on the verge of taking legal action against the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, said it would reconsider that option after it was given a commitment yesterday that “this is going to be a matter of national priority and will also be run via the National Treasury and the Department of Mineral Resources”.

“So there is going to be a holistic overview rather than a localised perspective on this endemic problem,” said Mariette Liefferink, the chief executive of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment.

“The reason that led us to resorting to legal action was that we had exhausted all possible avenues, from parliamentary processes to advocacy through the media. But, after assurances from (Mbangiseni) Nepfumbada (the acting deputy director of policy and regulation at the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs), we are going to seek the advice of our legal representative for a review.” Continue reading Government forced to deal with acid mine drainage

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AMD laid bare in Water Affairs report

Acidic water reaches Cradle of Mankind

Johannesburg CBD threatened by rising acidic water

Massive pollution threat to economic heartland

Government forced to deal with acid mine drainage

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