About 80% of the country’s dams are so enriched with nutrients they could produce toxic algal blooms
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The minister is adamant the country is not experiencing a crisis, despite about half the water in our systems being unsafe for drinking
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Challenges in overcoming legacy of air and water pollution are ‘enormous’
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The Northern wastewater treatment works disgorges sewage into the Umgeni River, which flows into the sea at Durban, polluting the city’s popular beaches
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Quick fixes are inadequate to prevent damage from gold mining’s legacy, but the long-term plan of treating AMD could relieve water shortages
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Citizen activists have warned that the water situation in South Africa is ‘dire and precarious’
With La Niña bringing much-needed rain, it is inexcusable that South Africans do not have access to their most basic human need: water
From pharmaceutical waste and radioactive pollutants in Lake Victoria in East Africa, to acid mine drainage in South Africa, water pollution is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa
Untreated effluent from textile factories in in Lesotho, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mauritius and Madagascar pours into rivers, contaminating the water
The government’s vision for mined land: farms, tourism and self-generation of electricity
Mining areas on the West Rand are ecologically dead because of poor rehabilitation
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As far back as 2007, a local nonprofit met with government officials to deal with the pollution crisis in Emfuleni. Residents are still waiting
Mismanagement, pollution and a water deficit exacerbated by climate change are to blame
Despite Ekurhuleni spending R2.8-million on a sewer line to prevent further damage to a pump station, raw waste has contaminated a wetland
Engineering Research Capacity Development Award
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Wastewater contains many dangerous contaminants, which are now being measure
New data reveals a radical increase in the number of mines flouting water regulations
Many African countries tend to mismanage their groundwater resources
Traces of the drugs are found in urine and faeces, but water treatment plants are not designed to remove them
Winner: Aller River Pilot Project
The decline in the maintenance of wastewater treatment plants in most towns is alarming and cannot be allowed to deteriorate further
The reasons include faulty sewerage plants, rogue mines and weak monitoring agencies.
The amount of food available in the oceans will decrease by up to 55% this century, starving animals already struggling to adapt to warming oceans.
Past experience has shown that the government will continue to permit industry such as mining that destroys water supplies.
A hundred thousand marine mammals and a million seabirds have died as a result of marine waste, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency.
Research into some of the JSE’s biggest companies finds them in regular breach of environmental legislation and failing to disclose this to investors.
There are no environmental checks on Gauteng’s emergency response to the mine drainage crisis, as polluted water seeps into rivers and land.
Sewage flows because of misplaced trust in local government and co-operative governance.
Most sewerage plants in South Africa malfunction, but officials have been told to back off ahead of local elections in 2016.
The Klip River brings disease but, like many other water sources, it is still not being tested.
With nowhere else to live, many seek refuge in the radiation wastelands in Gauteng, unaware of the deadly dangers the abandoned mining areas present.
Allegations of water pollution by mining operations will see the ombud probe top mining companies like Glencore Xstrata and AngloGold Ashanti.
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