R225m for acid mine water too little

Environmental groups said yesterday that the government’s R225 million budgetary allocation to deal with acid mine drainage (AMD) over three years was “extremely modest”, implying the state saw a strong role for the private sector in treating polluted water.

Pravin Gordhan said R75m would be allocated this year towards AMD, followed by R150m in the following two years.

But Mariette Liefferink, the chief executive of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, said the amount would not cover infrastructure spending required to treat AMD in what she dubbed South Africa’s overflowing or fast-filling “emergency basins” – the western, central and eastern basins of the Witwatersrand.

She put a rough estimate of R2.2 billion on the capital costs of putting in place infrastructure to treat AMD on the Witwatersrand.

“The capital expenditure requirements will amount to billions (of rands), not millions,” Liefferink said. “But if the aim is just to neutralise, then the budget may be sufficient.”

The relatively small allocation could suggest the state’s favoured short-term technology approach involves neutralising the pH of the water by adding lime. Neutralisation is a cheaper method that environmentalists deem ineffective as it leaves salts and uranium in the water system.

Liefferink said the small budgetary allocation suggested the government would seek a public-private partnership to deal with AMD.

“That would be the most prudent approach because, if you take the gold mining industry, we are left with just a few gold mines. It would be unsustainable to expect the last man standing to fund AMD treatment in perpetuity,” she said.

In yesterday’s Budget summary for the Department of Mineral Resources, R117m was allocated over three years to manage “extraneous water” at Grootvlei mine on the Wits eastern basin. The department also planned to prioritise rehabilitation of derelict mines.

It referred to a three-year contract it had signed with the Council for Mineral Technology and Research to manage the rehabilitation of mines project, plus an additional allocation to treat AMD water. The council’s budget would increase from R197m this year to R219m the following year, and reduce to R209m in 2013/4.

The council completed a demonstration plant for treating AMD water in 2007 and has re-engineered the process in collaboration with international effluent treatment group Veolia. It plans to demonstrate the technology on a pilot scale within the next year.

However, Liefferink believed the real issue was economic viability rather than technical feasibility, and said other pilot plants had already been set up on the West Rand. “Now it appears this is another process that will be piloted. I think it’s one of several routes,” she said.

The Department of Water Affairs pledged this week to release a confidential report by experts on AMD today.

Earlier this week, National Planning Minister Trevor Manuel, a member of the inter-ministerial committee investigating AMD, said the report “indicates issues we should be concerned about”, but said the eastern and central basins were still at relatively safe levels.

The Centre for Environmental Rights said this week the government had not yet provided the public with enough information on its plans to address AMD. In particular, no clear time frames were provided, nor agencies identified to implement measures.

It pointed out that the pending release of the report coincided with the deadline for the government to respond to an application for access to the report in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

According to the organisation, more than 2.5 billion litres of heavily polluted water had been discharged into South Africa’s river systems since mid-December, of which less than 900 million litres had been partially treated. The total discharge of AMD since then would fill more than 41 000 swimming pools. - Ingi Salgado