Concerns about mining impact on water supply

THE uThungulu District Municipality’s currently difficulty in supplying Mtunzini with water owing to current low levels of available water, has raised fears about crisis situations arising once mining starts at Fairbreeze.

The district gets its water from the City of uMlathuze and, according to uThungulu Muncipal Manager Mandla Nkosi, frequent Eskom power outages, compounded by the high demand in the extremely hot weather conditions, has affected the City’s available supply.

Reports, however, indicate the mine will use raw river water sourced from the Mhlathuze River. This will be done via a bulk water supply pipeline.

In effect, Fairbreeze will use the water currently allocated for Hillendale as part of the industrial water allocation for the area.

Tronox purchases the water from Mhlathuze Water and is bound by an allocation in the budget. The supply required for the Fairbreeze project is within the available water budget according to an Exxaro publication dated April 2012.

‘Mhlathuze Water’s extraction permit from the Mhlathuze River is issued by the Department of Water Affairs and takes the capacity of the natural resources reserve into account, which considers environmental and ecological flow requirements before water is made available for other uses,’ the report stated.

Tronox KZN Sands spokesperson Natalie Keegan said, ‘Fairbreeze will not necessarily extract its full quota of water from the river every day. When the mine begins operating, there will be an initial inflow to fill up the dams. After that, the water will be recycled.’

However, Mtunzini Residence Association Chairperson Wendy Forse explained ongoing concerns.

‘What Tronox will not say is that no matter which authority manages which water resource and through which pipeline raw or treated water will flow, the basic water resources are all the same and subject to the same climate stresses.

‘So Tronox’s massive 48 million litres of water a day, once they actually start mining, has to have an influence on general water supplies, particularly during dry periods.’

The town has approached Exxaro with a request to support its raw water supply.

In response, Exxaro proposed an off-take from its pipeline where it crosses the Mtunzini bulk supply pipe.

The off-take will be able to supplement the town’s raw water supply in times of drought or if there is a problem with the bulk supply pipe.