Dead carp in Wonderfontein spruit: pic courtesy Paul Neal (Dream Africa) Dept of Safety and Security: Crime? No problem there, just lots of whingeing. More concerning is the contamination of ground water by radioactive mining waste in the Wonderfonteinspruit area. This is particularly worrying as the issue of uranium contamination...
About R21 million has been spent on controlling the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe and a further R80 million will be allocated to affected areas, Water Affairs and Forestry Minister Lindiwe Hendricks said Monday.
Speaking at the launch of the Water For Growth and Development Framework in Johannesburg, Hendricks said water tankers, engineers and technicians were sent to Zimbabwe to repair infrastructure and ensure access to clean drinking water in response to the cholera outbreak.
The framework was approved by Cabinet in January.
She added that if remedial action was not taken Gauteng could experience water shortages from 2013 to 2025.
"Fortunately this will not happen given the recent decision by Cabinet to proceed with the second phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
"We have made much progress and we are confident that the universal access to water and sanitation services will be completed by 2014," she said.
According to the department of water affairs and forestry, a programme was launched last year to deal with the illegal abstraction of water and water pollution.
Hendricks said all tap water in South Africa is safe to drink, even though at times it does not meet technical standards.
"Of the 3000 samples taken nationwide, about 94 to 98 percent complied with the SA National Standards of drinking water.
"The failing six percent of the samples do not persistently occur in the same location but varies across the country. In some areas, this may be due to a stolen or broken water pump.
"To address this, a further amount of about R4 billion has been allocated to deal with the upgrading and augmenting of municipal infrastructure," she said.
.....The Dept of Water Affairs and Forestry calmly assures us that there is no water crisis. But should we believe them based on a government track record of denial or blithe reassurance?
Dept of Health: HIV / Aids? Beetroot, garlic and the african potato to the rescue.
Dept of Minerals and Energy: Electricity? It should all be okay as long as our economic growth stays at 2%?
Reports of 43 percent of DWAF managed dams having safety issues sounds pretty critical to me. Or what do they propose a safe tolerance level is for a water-stressed country? 60%? 80%? 43% sounds bad enough and I'd like to know what is being done to fix the problems especially in light of Peter van Niekerk, chief director of water resources planning at DWAF, commenting, "we have constructed some dams but nothing to the same extent because of much greater use is the opportunity to manage demand." Sounds suspiciously like load shedding rationing to me.
See Video - Wonderfontein Spruit Gold Mining Pollution Contamination
A documentary covering the contamination of the Wonderfontein Spruit
South African government denies health hazard from contaminated water in the Wonderfonteinspruit catchment area - despite scientific evidence presented at international conference.
Regulator denies water and foodstuffs in the Wonderfonteinspruit catchment area are radioactive - despite scientific reports.
Regulator withholds report on serious contamination of water and food from mining activities in Gauteng.
Mining companies under encouragement by the South African Government now want to mine Uranium on a vast scale all around South Africa.
See Business Times story
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