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The reason the Boksburg Lake on Gauteng’s East Rand has turned a startling rusty red is toxic acid mine drainage (AMD) is seeping into the waterway from the Central mining Basin. (City of Ekurhuleni)

Why Boksburg Lake turned red: Acid mine drainage confirmed as cause

Residents have been urged to avoid Boksburg Lake after it was contaminated

Time running out: Relatives are desperately trying to rescue the scores of illegal artisanal miners who became trapped when a mine shaft in Krugersdorp was flooded. Photo: Fani Mahuntsi/Getty Images

‘I’m fighting for my sons’ lives,’ says father of trapped illegal miners in Krugersdorp

The relatives of illegal artisanal miners who are trapped underground in in a flooded mine shaft say that the authorities have failed to help them

Standoff: Zama zamas mining at abandoned sites exacerbate environmental harm and cause security issues. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Illegal mining proliferates when the state fails to issue closure certificates and regulate compliance

The problem has wide-ranging socio-economic and environmental impacts, says a draft mine closure strategy

When there is mine waste near residential areas, communities in the vicinity are always negatively affected. Photo supplied

The hazardous legacy of Krugersdorp’s abandoned mines

Experts say the government must fund acid mine drainage clean-ups to protect the right of citizens to a healthy environment and clean water

Polluting: Levels of acid water from old gold mines on the East Rand in Gauteng are escalating, threatening to pollute the groundwater in the area. Photo: James Puttick

Toxic acid mine water continues to rise underground on East Rand

The situation is frightening, says an anonymous source who used to work at the department of water and sanitation

About seven billion litres of sewage are released every day into rivers and dams. (Andy Mkosi)

SA’s rivers and dams can no longer recover from pollution, say water scientists

About seven billion litres of sewage are released every day into rivers and dams This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free Account The Mail &…

Degradation: Acid mine drainage (AMD) flows out of the Western mining basin on 12 April.  Photos: Trevor Brough

Witwatersrand goldfield acid mine drainage ‘with us for millennia’

Quick fixes are inadequate to prevent damage from gold mining’s legacy, but the long-term plan of treating AMD could relieve water shortages

Highly polluted reservoirs in Gauteng and the North West, including Hartbeespoort Dam, should be fenced off because of the health risks they pose to people and animals from blooms of toxic cyanobacteria. Photo: Getty Images

Faecal pollution severely contaminates SA’s rivers, dams – report

More than half of the sites showed a high health risk if water was used for irrigation

Water flows through the concrete pipe and across a gravel road before going under the R24. (Trevor Brough)

Cradle of Humankind residents fear sinkholes, groundwater contamination from toxic acid mine drainage

Excessive rainfall last month has caused untreated toxic water from old gold mines to decant into waterways on the West Rand

(John McCann/M&G)

Long-awaited legislation seeks to strengthen SA’s environmental regime

National Environmental Management Laws Amendment Act introduce new offences, increase quantum of fines, extend enforcement powers to municipal managers

Danger below:  Underground acid mine water levels on the Eastern basin pose a threat

Pumping of acidic mine water on East Rand delayed — again

The plant’s closure means that a tide of toxic mine water is rising significantly underground, which could decant into the environment within months

Danger below:  Underground acid mine water levels on the Eastern basin pose a threat

Acid mine water continues to rise underground on the East Rand

Levels at a treatment plant in Springs have now breached a critical environmental threshold

Threat: The rising water level will affect mining underground and should the toxic acid mine water break to the surface the groundwater could be contaminated. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Deep concern over rising underground tide of toxic acidic mine water on East Rand

Broken abstraction pumps at the Eastern basin treatment plant mean that water supply may become contaminated, posing a serious threat

26 January 2022. Tsediso Raleholi shows a photograph of her 10-year old daughter Mapula. Mapula drowned in a mine dam on Durban Deep over the Christmas holidays. (James Puttick)

‘My child would still be alive’ if that dam at the mine wasn’t there

The drowning of 10-year-old Mapula Raleholi is the latest in a series at mining sites in Gauteng

Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Barbara Creecy. (Photo by Ruvan Boshoff/Sunday Times/Gallo Images via Getty Images)

Environment minister in crosshairs over proposed amendment to environmental regulations

The proposed change will make it impossible for civil society, or their lawyers, to appeal environmental authorisations without using the services of a costly environmental…

Contaminated: Jo’burg residents use the city’s streams, such as the Klipspruit that runs through Soweto and joins the Klip River, for religious and other social functions. (Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Klip River’s ‘holy water’ a danger

A new study says the river’s wetlands have accumulated toxic pollutants from mining for more than a century

Costly closure: Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine near Carletonville closed down and along with it the village. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

South Africa’s closed mines must not shaft people

The government’s vision for mined land: farms, tourism and self-generation of electricity

Service failure: A woman in the Free State, collects water from a pool used to store water. The revival of the drop programmes will enable the R1-trillion rebuild of the water sector in South Africa. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Water sector to clean up its act

The Blue and Green Drop programmes are being relaunched to rebuild SA’s often poorly maintained and ‘looted’ water systems

Plastic and other waste pollution along the Hennops River. The sewage pollution of the river affects the water quality of the Rietvlei and Hartbeespoort dams. File photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G

There is shit in the Hennops River: ‘No way you can call this water’

E.Coli counts in tributaries feeding the Hennops River run into tens of millions, far above the permitted limit

Polluter not paying: Acid water from mines, in particular those that have not been rehabilitated by owners, is polluting the Vaal River system with metals, radionuclides and concentrated salts. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy/M&G

State halts its R10bn long-term plan to fully treat acid mine water

The state is saddled with the burden of treating acid water and polluters are escaping the responsibility