TODAY The Times publishes a story which affects each and every reader in a very real way. It is to do with threats to the quality of our water from increasing pollution from disused mineshafts.
Mining is an environmentally destructive process which can lead the wide-scale contamination of ground water with toxic heavy metals, acids and even radioactive substances.
To negate this effect, mining houses pump water out of mineshafts before it can become dangerously contaminated and seep into the surrounding ground water.
The problem arises when mine shafts, usually part of marginal mining operations, are closed because their minerals are exhausted or because they are no longer financially viable due to changes in the market prices of minerals.
The pumping of the water ceases, the mineshafts fill up and the dangerous metals and acids enter the water. With time, this water leaches out of the mineshafts and enters the surrounding ground water.
This time bomb has been ticking on the Witwatersrand for decades and experts believe that the ground water will soon be so heavily contaminated that it will be undrinkable and it will affect the viability of plant life.
Because water is regarded as an “unsexy” topic, this ground water crisis will in all likelihood go unnoticed by the broader public and there is little pressure on the state to do something about it.
The first step that should be immediately taken is to make mining houses continue with pumping operations at shafts they no longer use.
The second is that the issuing of mining licences must take into account the long term effect of extraction on the water table.
This ought to be national crisis as we are fast running out of time to save our ground water.

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