Acid mine water crisis deepening, with wide implications {writer: Fanie Heyns}

The deepening crisis surrounding acid mine drainage (AMD) and the failure of the government to deal effectively with it, has raised questions about the future viability of Johannesburg as a city – and Gauteng as a province – and the long-term usability of water resources in Gauteng, experts warned.

Scientist Dr Anthony Turton recently said that if one expands outward from AMD as a single issue, and one takes a broader strategic look at the entire issue, then the future viability of Johannesburg and Gauteng is at stake.

There is the complex issue of open holes between the surface and the mine void. A recent report by the Department of Mineral Resources to parliament noted the existence of 900 holes of this nature, 244 of which are in central Johannesburg. Some of these holes are 1 000 metres deep.

These holes are open because of unemployment, resulting in the theft of metal from these abandoned shafts, Dr Turton told the Sunday Times (13 February 2011).

“AMD is thus a small part of a very much bigger problem that collectively raised the question about the very sustainability of Johannesburg as a safe city in which to invest,” he said.

Environmental organisations have written a letter to the government, demanding that it releases a report on ways to stop the flow of millions of litres of AMD into various rivers in Gauteng.

Seeking access to report

The report has been ready for months, but the Cabinet still had not released its contents by mid-February.

Attorney for the Centre for Environmental Rights Dina Townsend said a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had demanded, in terms of the access to information legislation, the right to see the report.

The report was drawn up late last year to determine ways to draw private sector mining companies, which were still operating in Gauteng, into the process of extracting the mine water and cleansing it.

In February, Minister in the Presidency for Evaluation and Monitoring Collins Chabane said an inter-ministerial committee report, which was drawn up by various academics and officials from the departments of Water Affairs and Science and Technology, had now been sent to the Cabinet Disaster Management Committee.

Water Affairs deputy director-general Cornelius Ruiters said he could not divulge the contents of the report, which were marked “top secret”; he previously said that only Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa could release the document.

Her spokesperson Mava Scott was not available for comment, but Townsend said a letter had been sent to her, as well as National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor and Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu, demanding they release the report.

Townsend, together with EarthLife Africa’s Judith Taylor and the chief executive officer of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE) Mariette Liefferink, argued on behalf of a long list of NGOs and environmental activists that the government’s inaction was unconstitutional.

“The state has a positive obligation to take reasonable legislative measures to secure the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or well-being,” they said, which is according to section 24 of the Constitution.

Everyone has the right to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation.

Acute problem

AMD is an acute problem, according to environmentalists.

Grootvlei mine in Ekurhuleni is pumping out about 40 megalitres of water a day into the Blesbokspruit, which feeds the Maryvale wetland.

Decanting on the West Rand is taking place on Rand Uranium’s property and flowing into the Tweelopiespruit. Only about 15 megalitres of the 50 megalitres are being treated.

AMD is water flowing over acid-bearing rock exposed through mining, which turns toxic on contact with air. It contains sulphuric acid, minerals and metals, making it lethal for consumption. (Sources: Business Report, 9 February 2011, Mail & Guardian, 9 February 2011; www.cer.org.za)

Civil society organisations issued a statement, noting with great alarm the ongoing flooding of the Central and Eastern Basins of the Witwatersrand Basin and increased volumes of uncontrolled decant of untreated AMD from the flooded West Rand Basin. (Source: www.cer.org.za, January 2011)

The Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Acid Mine Drainage was established with the purpose of determining a plan of action and to develop a government response to AMD.

Since the establishment of the IMC, millions of litres of AMD continue to be decanted into streams connected to both the Vaal and Crocodile river systems and groundwater systems, with devastating consequences for communities and the environment.

The heavy summer rainfall has greatly exacerbated the situation, resulting in the rapid rising of toxic water levels.

Groundwater levels are estimated to be rising at a rate of 40 centimetres per day, and heavy rains are expected to continue for another three months.

The decant of untreated AMD into South Africa’s surface and groundwater system has devastating consequences that are both far-reaching and long-term, said Liefferink in the statement on behalf of the civil societies of South Africa.

These consequences include the declining quality of water supplies, poisoning of food crops, deterioration of human health and well-being, and the destruction of wildlife and ecosystems and valuable ecosystem services, infrastructure and heritage sites – all of which also have far-reaching economic impacts.

Consequently, AMD poses a significant threat to the realisation of the rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights, chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, and specifically the right to healthcare, food and water (section 27), the right to housing (section 26), the right to an environment that is not harmful to health or well-being (section 24) and the right to dignity (section 10).

To date, the IMC has failed to make the interim and further reports by the team of experts (TOE) publicly available. The IMC has not invited public comment on the reports or public participation in its meetings.

The failure to make the TOE’s reports publicly available, and the failure to invite comment on those reports, means there can be no open and transparent public debate on the TOE’s findings and recommendations.

The civil societies of South Africa have addressed a letter to the IMC, dated 25 January 2011, demanding greater transparency and participation in the IMC’s activities, for information with regard to the urgent measures that will be taken to address AMD.

Liefferink and other environmentalists have argued that the failure to disclose the findings of the report it commissioned last year may be due to the magnitude and complexity of AMD and the costs involved in the treatment thereof, according to the Sunday Times (13 February 2011).

Said Liefferink: “The magnitude and complexity stems from 120 years of unregulated gold mining, and to treat the AMD water to potable quality using reverse osmosis will be R11 per cubic metre.

“Rand Water sells its water at between R3 and R4 per cubic metre and government, particularly the apartheid government, has been the principal polluter.”

Dr Turton said it is all about the end of a golden age of wealth extraction that gave little though to a post-mining future, and no repatriation or reinvestment of that wealth for the day that the gold ran out.

“The party is over. Now comes the hangover,” he added. (Source: Sunday Times, 13 February 2011)

Neutralisation as option

According to Mining Weekly, the IMC has recommended that the three priority basins – the Eastern, Central and Western basins – have implementation plans that include the pumping and neutralisation of AMD, enforced compliance, regular inspection and prevention of ingress as a short-term measure to maintain water levels at least below the relevant environmental critical level. (Mining Weekly, 21 January 2011)

The IMC stated that it felt the current proposals, such as a water treatment plant, were based on scientific research and engineering proposals, instead of being simplistic and quick solutions.

The committee will, in particular, revisit and focus on areas such as the liability of polluters and the costing of implementation. This, industry feels, has always been the sticking point with mines, as the mines refuse to accept liability – which has caused a stalemate.

The report is expected to be presented to Cabinet early this year.

Liefferink, in a statement on behalf of the FSE, expressed concerns regarding the proposed treatment of AMD. The FSE felt that the IMC’s suggested treatment, namely neutralisation through a pH adjustment, would only aggravate the situation.

“A base reagent, such as lime, is added to acidic mine wastewater for neutralisation.

“The increase in pH results in the precipitation of various metals and the removal, to some degree, of sulphate,” Liefferink told Mining Weekly

“In the flooded West Rand, neutralisation of AMD results in the discharges of water combining 3 700mg of sulphates, which has rendered the water unfit for any purpose – it has already sterilised the Tweelopiespruit.”

The FSE said that the product water, after neutralisation, would require further treatment to remove the dissolved contaminants. “The addition of lime does not sufficiently lower the iron and manganese levels,” it added.

Neutralisation, the FSE felt, would result in large volumes of toxic and radioactive sludge residue, which is difficult to handle owing to the large volumes as well as the variable stability and density.

A global crisis

Concerns about the pollution of water sources in South Africa, which is already a water-scarce country, are gaining impetus around the globe.

By 2025, approximately 1.8 billion people worldwide will be living in conditions of absolute water scarcity, stated Professor Malin Falkenmark, Stockholm International Water Institute senior scientist and chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the Stockholm Water Symposium. (Source: Mining Weekly, 21 January 2011)

Quoting Prof. Falkenmark and her “Water cycle and People: water for feeding humanity” paper, Dr Turton – himself an expert on hydropolitics and transboundary water resources – emphasised that, by 2025, two-thirds of the global population would be living under conditions of severe water stress.

Furthermore, he said, southern Africa is highly vulnerable, and water scarcity is a limitation to future economic growth and thus national prosperity.

An economic impact study by the trade union United Association of South Africa stated that the current condition of the country’s water could result in a possible decrease in disposable income, a hike in government spending and a loss of up to 200 000 jobs.