SAVE THE VAAL

POLLUTION ISSUES IN THE VAAL RIVER

Report

Mariette Liefferink

Is t

12 of 19 WMA requireintervention

2

Courtesy: Fred van Zyl. DWS. NWRS-2

Key demand centres

• Increasing salinity in the Orange River – growing water shortages as illustrated. (Ref. DWS

Reconciliation Strategies For Large Bulk Water Supply Systems: Orange River Final Reconciliation Strategy (November 2014))

•Much of the water supplied to the metropolitan areas and some mining developments is transferred from the Vaal River system via Rand

Water.

• In many of the streams and impoundments, water quality is severely compromised by the proportionately large return flows.

•The utilisation of the projected surplus water in the Crocodile (West) River catchment will be for transfer to the Lephalale area (the Lephalale

mineral belt in the Mokolo River is accorded by Government a Strategically Important Project) as well as for re-use schemes within the

catchment.

1

INDICATORS:1. High demand, with target WC/WDM achieved

2. AMD: Neutralised only, then discharged

3. Unlawful abstraction from Liebenbergsvlei eradicated

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2600

2800

3000

3200

3400

3600

3800

2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050

Yie

ld /

Wa

ter

Re

qu

ire

me

nts

(m

illi

on

m3

/ a

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)

Years

Yield reduction due to dilution

wastages

High Water Requirement Scenario withWater Conservation and Demand Management

Polihali Dam Yield

Deficit

Deficit

First transfer from LHWP Phase II

Short-term excess yield

System Yield

AMD pumping commences. Yield increases by 76

million m3/annum

Department of Water and Sanitation Report (CER)

• Human Resources

– Vacancy Rates: National Treasury reports that there are 900 vacant posts within DWS

– Suspensions:

• Overspending: Debt owed to the Reserve Bank - R1.9 billion. Main source of the debt - money owed by

the Water Trading Entity to the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority.

• Auditor General Report: Qualified audit - 2015/16 financial year: significant irregular, fruitless and

wasteful expenditure.

• Revenue Collection: Approximately R9.8 million is owed to the DWS by municipalities and Water

Boards.

• Corruption Allegations: Lesotho Highlands Water Project, notably, the Polihali Dam

Figure: List of Director-Generals in DWS since 2009

Sifiso Mkhize (Acting DG) Acting Current

Dan Mashitisho Suspended 3 Jan - 16 July 2017

Sifiso Mkhize (Acting DG) Acting 9 July 2016 - 3 Jan 2017

Margaret-Anne Diedricks Resigned 22 Oct 2014 - 9 July 2016

Trevor Balzer (Acting DG) Acting

Maxell Sirenya Suspended

(for two years on full pay)

January 2012

(Suspended 2013-2015)

30 months with no DG

Nobubele Ngele (Acting

DG)

Suspended 2 November 2010

Pam Yako Dismissed February 2008 - 23 July 2009

Department of Water and Sanitation Report (CER) (Continued)

• Legislation: Uncertainty and incoherence in the policy and legislative environment related to water and

sanitation. (Water and Sanitation Bill; Water and Sanitation Master Plan; Proposed revision of the pricing

strategy for water use charges; revision of the norms and standards for setting water services tariffs)

• Catchment Management Agencies and Water Tribunal

• Blue and Green Drop Reports: Blue Drop and Green Drop reports have not been published since 2013;

DWS does not timeously remunerate laboratories and they subsequently withhold data or results; since

2015 Green Drop Assessments was not undertaken due to the lack of capacity.

• Dysfunctional wastewater treatment works and lack of remedial action: The majority of plants (259)

assessed are in the high risk

• Compliance Monitoring And Enforcement, Licence Conditions And Reporting: in 2016 only 85 of

the 177 vacant posts, for the Blue Scorpions, were filled; no reporting on compliance monitoring and

enforcement; of the 111 mines 55 mines are significantly non-compliant

Escherichia coli

E.Coli

• Predicted symptoms include skin irritations,

infections and intestinal disorders

• E.coli 200 – 400 counts/100ml – Significant risk of

gastrointestinal disorders

• E.coli >400 counts/100ml – High risk of

gastrointestinal disorders

Escherichia coli

E.Coli

Predicted symptoms include skin irritations, infections

and intestinal disorders

200 – 400 counts / 100ml: Significant risk of

gastrointestinal disorders

>400 counts / 100ml: High risk of gastrointestinal

disorders

Rand Water

Quarterly Water Quality Status of the Rietspruit

Catchment 01 Oct 2016 - 30 Sep 2017

APRIL 2017

INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL AUTHORISATION APPLICATION PROCESS

FOR THE PROPOSED CESSATION OF PUMPING AND ASSOCIATED

CLOSURE OF THE UNDERGROUND WORKINGS OF THE EZULWINI

OPERATIONS OF SIBANYE GOLD

Surface Water

Based on the assessment of the impacts on surface water from the cessation of pumping from Ezulwini the

following conclusions can be made:

· The cessation of pumping will have a very high impact on the surface water quantity in terms of

availability, in the Kleinwes Rietspruit and in terms of the availability of water in the catchment.

·In addition, further downstream where water from urban areas is being discharged into the stream, water

qualities with respect to e.coli may deteriorate due to the significantly reduced dilution from the water

currently being discharged from the mine. However, although the impact on surface water quality further

downstream on the Kleinwes Rietspruit has a high negative rating, Sibanye cannot be held accountable for

the detrimental influences by third parties on water quality downstream of the operations.

National Water Act 36 of 1998 (NWA)

• Pollution means the direct or indirect alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties of a

water resource so as to make it-

– Less fit for any beneficial purpose for which it may reasonably be expected to be used

– Harmful or potentially harmful to the welfare, health or safety of human beings; to any aquatic or

non-aquatic organisms, to the resource quality; or to property

Who is responsible/liable? (Section 19 of the NWA)

• An owner of land, a person in control of land or a person who occupies or uses the on which-

– Any activity or process is or was performed or undertaken; or

– Any other situation exist, which causes, has caused or is likely to cause pollution of a water

resource, must take all reasonable measures to prevent any such pollution from occurring,

continuing or recurring.

• A CMA may direct any person who fails to take the measures required under subsection 1(1) to-– commence taking specific measures before a given date

– Diligently continue with those measures

– Complete them before a given date

• Should a person fail to comply, or comply inadequately with a directive the CMA may take the measures

it considers necessary and recover the costs jointly and severally fro the following persons– Any person who is or was responsible or who directly or indirectly contributed to the pollution or the potential pollution

– The owner of the land at the time when the pollution or potential pollution occurred, or that owner’s successor-in-title

– The person in control of the land or any person who has a right to use the and at the time when

• the activity or the process is or was performed or undertaken; or

• the situation came about or any person who negligently failed to prevent the activity or

• the process being perform or undertaken or the situation from coming about

Chapter 15

Appeals and Dispute resolution

• This Chapter establishes the Water Tribunal to hear appeals against certain decisions made by a

responsible authority, catchment management agency or water management Institution under the Act.

• The Tribunal is an independent body, whose members are appointed through an independents selection

process and which may conduct hearings throughout the Republic.

• A person may appeal to a High Court against a decision of the Tribunal on a question of law.

• This chapter also provides for disputes to be resolved by mediation, if so directed by the Minister.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WRITTEN REPLY QUESTION NO 2306 DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14 AUGUST 2017 (INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 26)

2306. Mr N R Mashabela (EFF) to ask the Minister of Water and Sanitation:

(1) Have any appeals been lodged with her in terms of section 41(6) of the National Water Act, Act 36 of 1998; if not, why not; if so, how many have been (a) lodged and (b) decided;

(2) will the Water Tribunal be retained as an appeal authority in the upcoming draft Water and Sanitation Bill; if not, why not? NW2545E

---00O00--- REPLY:

(1) From 2008 to 2017, a total of 414 appeals have been lodged, and 4 decided; 74 withdrawn by appellants.

(2) No. The reason for discontinuation Water Tribunal is that the Water Tribunal is not an efficient, cost effective and speedy mechanism for the resolution of appeals arising from the implementation of the Act. The new Bill seeks to provide for an administrative dispute resolution mechanism which is more efficient, cost effective, and quicker.

---00O00---

Chapter 7

Catchment Management Agencies

•This Chapter provides for the progressive establishment by the Minister of CMA.

•The purpose of establishing these agencies is to delegate water resource management to the regional or

catchment level and to involve local communities, within the framework of the national water resource

strategy established in terms of Chapter 2.

THE PROPOSED CONSOLIDATION OF THE CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT AGENCIES INTO

ONE NATIONAL CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT AGENCY

It has recently come to our attention that the Minister of Water and Sanitation (Minister) has taken

the decision to commence the process of consolidating the nine catchment management

authorities (CMAs) into a single national CMA.

It would fly in face of existing national water policy that provide for the decentralisation of and

public participation in water governance.

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)

• AMD associated with mining activity – long recognised problem.

• “In 1903 referred to as an established phenomenon concerning pumped water on the Witwatersrand.”

• “The highest cost burden of combating salinity is currently being carried by the household sector and not

by industry as might be expected.”

• “Internalising externalities…the polluter pays principle is based on the internalisation of externalities

and there is central to the equitable resolution of pollution costs currently being borne by the end user.”

• “The following determinants in the mine void water exceed the Maximum Allowable Limits (Class II) of

the SABS 241 Drinking Water Standard, in many cases by several orders of magnitude: pH, EC, TDS,

So4, Fe, Mg, Ca, Mn, Al, Pb, Co and Ni. It can be assumed with a reasonable amount of certainty that

most of the other metals would also be present in elevated concentrations.”

(O’Flaherty 1903). (WRC Report No 486/1/95. “Flooding of Central and East Rand Gold Mines: An Investigation into Controls over the Inflow Rate, Water Quality and the

Predicted Impacts of Flooded Mines”. R.Scott.)

(R Pilson, HL van Rensburg, CJ Williams. WRC Report No 800/1/00. “An Economic and Technical Evaluation of Regional Treatment Options for Point Source Gold Mine

Effluents Entering the Vaal Barrage Catchment.”

(Harmony Environmental Impact Document titled “Impact of the discharge of Treated Mine Water, via the Tweelopies Spruit, on the receiving Water body Crocodile River

System, Mogale City, Gauteng Province” (DWAF 16/2/7/C221/C/24) (3 December 2006)

(The pollution and destruction threat of gold mining waste on the Witwatersrand - A West Rand case study. S.H.H. OELOFSE, P.J. HOBBS, J. RASCHER and J.E.

COBBING. CSIR, Natural Resources and the Environment, PO Box 395, Pretoria, South Africa, 0001)

(Institute for Water Quality Studies, 1995; Institute for Water Quality Studies, 1999, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 2003. Radiometric Surveying in the Vicinity

of Witwatersrand Gold Mines. H. Coetzee. Mine Closure. 2008.)

Measures approved to ensure water security

for the IVRS

The Vaal River System supply water to 60% of economy and 45% of population and to ensure that sufficient water of good quality is available to supply the future requirements of the important area of the VRS a multi pillar strategy is required

– Eradicate unlawful water use by 2013

– Reduction in water use by 15% through WC/WDM (focus on loss management) by 2015

– Re-use of treated effluent, start with mine water by 2014/15

– Implement the Integrated WQ Management Strategy

– Implementation of LHWP#2 by 2020

– Plan yield replacement scheme in Orange by 2034

– Manage uncertainties in Crocodile (West) and Olifants

– Establish Strategy Steering Committee24Reference: DWS

Figure 2: Dilution Releases from the Vaal Dam

Failure to establish a sustainable long-term solution to AMD would lead to the

prolonged reliance upon funding from the general fiscus, increase of the salt load

in the Vaal River, which could only be mitigated by releases from the Vaal Dam, and

a subsequent deficit in the Upper Vaal which could have severe economic impacts

if a drought occurs (the last drought ended in December 1995).

Ref. Richard Holden. TCTA

2006 2010

AMD: CURRENT STATUS

• 2012: Immediate and Short Term Treatment of AMD (High Cost High Energy Pump and Treatment Option)

• pH adjustment: “It should be noted that the metals have not simply disappeared but that they have merely changed to a

different oxidation state, which changed them from a soluble form to a solid form. The process could be reversed and

the contaminants mobilised, should the water become acidic.” Reference: Harmony EIA. DWAF 16/2/7/C221/C/24

• July 2013: Feasibility study for the long term treatment of AMD (R25 million)

• 18 May 2016: Launch of the Long Term Treatment of AMD

– 67% - Treasury: To be recovered through an environmental levy from current mining companies

– 33% - Public (Increased water tariffs)

– 2020 implementation

– CAPEX: R10 – R12 billion; OPEX: R25 million per month