The level of expenditure allocated to acid mine drainage (AMD), as set out by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in the 2013 Budget speech, is not sufficient to treat the water in South Africa’s 6 000 derelict mines, reports the World Wildlife Fund South Africa (WWF-SA).

The planned expenditure for AMD and derelict mines from the 2013 Budget is R150-million, a stark contrast to the R30-billion estimated by the Auditor- General in 2009.

“The longer we wait to address this issue, the more it is going to cost the South African taxpayer in the long term,” says WWF-SA’s Biodiversity Unit head Dr Deon Nel.

He states that the issue continues to be compounded by loopholes in mining legislation regarding the provision of mining rehabilitation.

“Last year, WWF-SA released a report on the finance required to rehabilitate South Africa’s mines. The report identified key loopholes in the current method that calculates how much money is required, post closure, to ensure a safe environment,” he says, adding that the current methods used do not account for long-term water treatment.

“We are already struggling to address the current threat of AMD in the Witwatersrand and the Olifants catchment areas, yet plans to mine in highly water-sensitive areas continue. As a water-scarce country, South Africa cannot afford to further compromise its water security,” he adds.

Nel further explains that the Budget speech highlights the amount that is needed to upgrade the country’s engineered water infrastructure to meet basic service demands; however, South Africa’s ecological infrastructure was not mentioned.

“These are the catchments, rivers and wetlands that supply us with water. WWF-SA recog- nises the need for manmade water infrastructure; however, it believes that spending on engineered infrastructure in isolation from spending equitably on our natural assets is a fruitless expenditure.

“Water security is critical to our country’s long-term development and wellbeing. We need a long-term view that will protect our natural assets,” he states.

Health Risks

WWF-SA’s Freshwater Pro-gramme senior manager Christine Colvin highlights that there are various health risks associated with AMD and that government should take a more hands-onapproach to treating it.

“Recent research has found that communities who have not only been exposed to AMD but are also living close to tailing dumps face a range of
low-level impacts that are not dealt with, as they are often not fatal.

“Low energy levels, perpetual tiredness, loss of libido, confusion and anxiety are just a few of the health issues which are associated with this level of metal toxicity in the environment that have only recently been reported,” she states.

She adds that poorer communities are affected by many different health issues, such as tuberculosis, high HIV levels and, from a microbial perspective, poor-quality drinking water.

“The overall health risk that they are exposed to is huge and it adds to their health-risk burden,” she says, adding that nervous-system disorders and certain types of cancers are most commonly linked to AMD exposure over a long period of time.

Environmental Impacts

Colvin states that the short-term environmental impact of AMD includes the immediate acidification of the aquatic environment, in the Witwatersrand’s Western basin area.

“The various types of insects and plant life that thrive in that environment will change. It used to have a much higher level of biodiversity in that catchment area and only a few species have adapted to the aquatic changes caused by AMD,” she explains.

Colvin adds that, over the long term, the impacts of AMD include the build-up of toxicity through the food chain, resulting in a significant number of predators dying out.

“In game reserves in the Western basin, where springs contaminated with AMD have started flowing again, we have seen the effect on plant life and animals, such as lions, which have become so sick they are no longer able to reproduce,” she states.

Colvin further states that pollution problems in the Loskop dam have been severely aggrevated by AMD, owing to derelict coal mines in the area.

“The number of crocodiles in the Loskop dam has crashed in the last five years. Five years ago, there was a healthy population of more than 80 crocodiles in the dam, now there are estimated to be only six. This is just one of the long-term impacts AMD has on the local environment,” she notes, adding that the destabilisation of riverbanks is another worrying factor.

“The entire water system starts to collapse from the bottom up,” she says.

AMD decanting, which is linked to gold mining, is being monitored by independent specialists.

“When the natural water levels in an aquatic system begin to recover after mining has stopped completely, natural water comes into contact with contaminated water, eventually contaminating the surrounding springs and water systems,” she says.