Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 02 July 2010
China has made scant progress on environment schemes drawn up nearly a decade ago to limit pollution in and around the vast Three Gorges dam reservoir, with officials hobbled by lack of funding, state media [...]
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 29 June 2010
WATER DEPARTMENT MOVES TO CURB POLLUTION OF WATER SOURCES
The Department of Water Affairs has noted with concern recent media reports of an environmental lobby group -the Environment and Conservation Association, which is said [...]
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 17 June 2010
The East Rand-based Environment and Conservation Association is preparing to bring criminal charges against Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica for her failure to attend to pollution that is contaminating the Hartbeespoort Dam.

Hartbeespoort dam water quality
Nicole Barlow, the chairwoman of the association, said the organisation’s legal representatives were finalising a comprehensive draft of criminal charges to be laid at the Rustenburg police station against the minister and President Jacob Zuma for their failure to uphold section 24 of the Constitution, which requires the government to protect water resources.
“The issue of the pollution of the Hartbeespoort Dam has been going on for a very long time, stemming mainly from untreated sewage and acid mine drainage from the mining companies in the Witwatersrand,” Barlow said.
Despite limited resources, the organisation had been conducting quarterly tests that found that the fish in the dam were bleeding from the nose, mouth and gills, she said. Continue reading Minister to face charges for failure to protect water resources
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 16 June 2010
Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Buyelwa Sonjica, gave the keynote address at the Official launch of Optimum Coal’s Water treatment plant at Optimum Colliery in Mpumalanga last week (9 June 2010)
The Mpumalanga [...]
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