AGRICULTURE
Illegal coal mine water use imperils food production
A study of water regulatory compliance by Delmas coal mines reveals widespread failures
There was relief in 2015, when Eskom ramped up coal supplies and SA’s power crisis ended. But few thought about the threat to clean water. A recent study of water regulatory compliance by Mpumalanga’s Delmas coal mines raises alarm bells. Delmas is a rich farming area, but also a new mining frontier. Abandoned coal mines already litter the landscape, raising the spectre of acid mine drainage. Problems with postapartheid mine-water licensing and regulations have long existed. Under the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, the state became the custodian of SA’s minerals. The act also governs mining’s environmental effects, unlike the rest of industry in the country, which falls under the National Environmental Management Act. Mining was brought under a new industrial regime with the compromise One Environmental System in 2014. Under this co-operative governance system, the Department of Environmental Affairs develops policy, the Department of Mineral Resources issues mine ...
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