Sanctuary under threat from treatment of mine drainage
THE popular Marievale bird sanctuary could be under threat from toxic spills into an internationally-protected wetland system from a proposed sludge disposal facility to treat acid mine drainage (AMD).
This is according to the final scoping report released this week on the environmental impact assessment for the construction of the proposed facility and pipeline associated with the treatment of AMD in the Eastern mining Basin.
The report, conducted by Digby Wells Environmental, notes that “due to the close proximity of Marievale and the Blesbokspruit wetlands, the various phases of the proposed project may have a negative impact on fauna and flora”.
The Blesbokspruit wetlands are listed as a Ramsar wetland site of inter national importance, the only such site in Gauteng ranked of “ecological significance” and one of just 17 in the country.
Digby Wells is the environmental consultancy handling the gover nment’s AMD response.
The “spillage of sludge in the Blesbokspruit may damage the plants and animals who are dependent on the Ramsar status of the Blesbokspruit river system” on the East Rand, according to the report.
The government is building an AMD treatment plant at Grootvlei mine in Springs to prevent the decant of AMD into the environment, at a cost of about R2 billion. By next year,
Spillage may damage plants
and animals
authorities hope the plant could begin to pump partially treated acidic mine water into the Blesbokspruit, which flows into the Vaal River.
But fear of toxic sludge aris- ing from this treatment process has drawn opposition from Springs residents and environmental groups like the Federation for a Sustainable Environment.
It notes how only two sites have been selected for the facility – the Grootvlei tailings dam and the Largo site. “Communities are opposed to the Largo site because of the agricultural activities and there is proposed prospecting of the tailings dam.” The report warns that the “aquatic environment and wetlands are in direct contact with the facility and will transport any potential spill downstream through/into the Ramsar wetland site toward the Marievale bird sanctuary”.
These spillages would “directly affect the acidity of the Blesbokspruit and in turn affect the mortality rate of the preferred food source for many water fowl”. The report also declares there “could be a reduction of the quality of aquatic ecosystems”.
Sputnik Ratau, a spokesman for the Department of Water Affairs, told the Saturday Star the emergency solution for AMD management in the Eastern Basin “outweighs the otherwise negative environmental and socio-economic impacts of AMD in these basins, should no action be taken, which will inevitably have far reaching adverse implications for the Vaal River system”.