Who pays?

Water polluters could foot bill for cleanups

LINDA ENSOR

Published: 2011/02/16 07:16:09 AM

CAPE TOWN — Polluters of underground water will be made to pay for the cleanup if talks under way between Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan bear fruit.


Among the options being considered was an environmental tax or levy, Ms Molewa said during a parliamentary media briefing yesterday on the infrastructure development cluster.


Such a measure would prevent a situation in future where mines were left derelict and the government had to pick up the tab for dealing with the acid mine water drainage problem they left.




If mining companies relied on the government to clean up after them, the problem would continue in perpetuity, she said.


Ms Molewa also said that where possible, the Department of Environmental Affairs would try to track down the companies that left derelict mines — which now posed an acid mine drainage threat — so that they could bear the costs of dealing with it.




The minister gave assurances that the government would use its financial resources to deal with the immediate acid mine water problems in the Krugersdorp area. It would reveal details of its immediate plans once these were approved by the Cabinet, probably later this week, she said.


Decanting from closed mines was taking place and had been worsened by the recent rains.


In Mpumalanga, mining operators were treating acid mine drainage on their own.


Ms Molewa conceded that the problem of acid mine drainage in Gauteng was "quite bad, to say the least" and stressed that the government took it very seriously. It was not buying time, she said.


The decanting of acid mine water in Boksburg is expected to begin late next year.


Also high on the department’s agenda was the maintenance of water service infrastructure with municipalities to prevent leak s of water and sew age. This was an "enormous challenge" which would require billions and billions of rand , Ms Molewa said.


She reported that her department had identified seven new augmentation water resource infrastructure projects.


Preparations were on track for the completion of the Vaal River Eastern Sub-System Augmentation Project in Mpumalanga by May 2012, Ms Molewa said.


Preparations were also on track to implement the Komati Water Augmentation Scheme in Mpumalanga; the Mokolo from Crocodile Water Augmentation Project in Limpopo; and the project to raise the Hazelmere Dam in KwaZulu-Natal.



Published in Busines Day - 16 Feb 2011