Pollution causing environmental havoc

Fourteen tons of dead mud fish have been removed in a week from the Loskop dam, north of Middelburg, reported Beeld newspaper on Saturday 18 August 2007. At that stage there were fears that the dam might have turned toxic within a few days.

Beeld quotes Albert Driescher, official at the Loskop dam nature reserve as speculating that the fish are dying from eating the sediment, which has been polluted by heavy metals. Heavy metals in the soil are dissolved in the water by acid mine drainage, but industrial waste containing nickel, vanadium and magnesium contribute to the pollution.

Elise Tempelhoff of Beeld reports that the Loskop dam is bubbling with methane gas, like a glass of "bubbling Eno".

Earlier an official of the Department of Water Affairs confirmed that a crocodile has died in the Loskop dam, recently as a result of aluminum poisoning.

Water pollution in the Witbank area directly contributes to the sorry state of the Loskop dam.

Aluminum poisoning occurs when acid mine drainage causes heavy metals to dissolve in the water. It affects the fish, the crocodiles and the ecology as a whole.

The National Water Act of South Africa prioritises water for basic human needs and water for the protection of aquatic ecosystems above water for any other use. This it does by defining the reserve as the quality and quantity of water required to satisfy basic human needs and to protect aquatic ecosystems. The Minister must, when determining the Reserve for a water resource, ensure that adequate allowance is made for each component of the Reserve. In other words, there must be enough water (in reserve) for basic human needs and aquatic ecosystems, before water rights can be granted for any other type of use.
- Marika Van Der Walt