The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has denied claims that a jet-fuel leak at the Blaauwpan dam, a protected wetland near OR Tambo International Airport, had not been cleaned up.
This follows media reports that contamination at the dam had not been cleared nine months after oil spilled into a storm-water drain at the airport.
A spokesperson for the department’s Blue Scorpions (water-quality inspectors), Nigel Adams, said current complaints of polluted water at the stream were due to contaminated top soil from the river banks leading to the dam.
”The dam was cleaned, but obviously some of the oil had seeped into the soil … due to recent rains, the oil resurfaced and entered into the dam.
”Dealing with an oil spill is a long-term exercise which requires the ongoing monitoring of the dam … Airports Company South Africa [Acsa] has since removed the top soil and there are people currently monitoring the situation.”
An estimated 1,2-million litres of jet fuel spilled into the airport’s storm-water drain last November. This enraged the Environmental Conservation Association (ECA), which pressed charges against Acsa.
Following recent reports of Acsa’s failure to clean the stream ”properly”, ECA spokesperson Nicole Barlow said the organisation would give the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry five days to get Acsa to clean the stream.
”We are not happy at all with the time taken to rehabilitate the area, which is highly contaminated. We are dissatisfied with [the department], which was supposed to ensure that Acsa does its job properly,” she said.
Asked about the pending court case following the criminal charges laid against Acsa in December, Barlow said ”our investigations are at an advanced stage but we are also waiting for [the department] to complete theirs before the prosecutor can deal with the matter”.
Acsa was charged under the National Water Act, which stipulates that ”no person may unlawfully and intentionally or negligently commit any act or omission which pollutes or is likely to pollute a water source”.
Eleven employees of Acsa, including MD Monhla Hlahla, were also charged under a subsection of the Act that allows for employees and directors of an organisation to be charged individually with criminal negligence.
An Acsa spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment on recent developments. — Sapa