Recent Updates and Activities of the FSE

Water affairs to stem Joburg acid tide

Sunday, 29 August 2010 19:18 Jocelyn Newmarch and Richard Davies

New measures to stop acid mine water decanting in central Johannesburg will cost R180 million.

The Department of Water Affairs has promised to erect a new pump station to stop acid mine water decanting in central Johannesburg, at a cost of about R180m.

It is also considering a pipeline to transport water for treatment from the Western Basin — the geographical area which roughly corresponds to the West Rand — at a cost of R40m.

Parliament committee visits AMD sites in Witwatersrand basin

Monday, 23 August 2010 15:55 miningweekly.com

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee for Water Affairs on Tuesday started site visits to areas in the Witwatersrand basin affected by acid mine drainage (AMD).
The portfolio committee would also visit the Hartebeespoort dam to assess the extent of eutrophication in the dam.

Reflections on environmental jurisprudence

Saturday, 17 July 2010 08:14 Nicholas Smith

Nicholas Smith reflects on some of the decisions handed down in courts between 1999 and 2009

"... it is suggested that the notions both of “environmental law” and consequently, “environmental jurisprudence”, are significantly broader than one might have envisaged when the 1996 Constitution commenced and the constitutional right to an environment not harmful to health or well-being with co-relative obligations on the State (among others) to secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources, while promoting justifiable economic and social development. This has a lot to do not just with the overarching constitutional requirements in regard to the legal regulation of environmental issues but also because of the overlay provided by codified administrative law provisions in this country. The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act in the Constitution entitles us to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair which means that the law that governs decision-making in environmental issues is often the primary point of departure for litigation on environmental rights and/or obligations.

Radiological Hotspots

Monday, 19 July 2010 10:26 administrator

The Implementation Task Team (ITT) visited the West Rand Goldfields on 10 June 2010. The team photographed radiological hotspots during their visits, and those photographs are shared here.

Massive pollution threat to economic heartland

Monday, 19 July 2010 08:02 administrator

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ERRATA

Mariette Liefferink wrote:

While I sincerely thank the journalist and publishers of Leadership for the professional, honest and courageous report on AMD, permit me please to correct three misrepresentations: I have not referred to Wemmer Pan as acutely toxic. The reference was to the Tweelopiespruit within the West Rand.

Secondly, the chronic exposure to AMD can lead to mental retardation, cancer, cognitive malfunction and skin lesions. Regrettably there has been no toxicological studies done in order to quantify the health impacts.

Thirdly, the sentence: "We have to control mine drainage, sewage dumping, and Pelindaba regularly dumps nuclear waste into the Crocodile River. People shouldn’t be anywhere near the Hartbeespoort Dam - not buying property there, not sailing, not fishing, and not eating the fish,” does not originate from me hence cannot be attributed to me.

The article published in LEADERSHIP on 17 July 2010 follows: