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Posted by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 10:59 |
17/01/2006 09:32 - (SA)
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1864351,00.html
Johannesburg - Sewerage swept into the Vaal River by recent rains has destroyed the river's ecosystem, Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The Eco-Care Trust, an environmental organisation committed to the conservation of fish and rivers told the paper tons of dead fish have been floating downriver since the weekend.
The trust's Bernard Venter said this included large numbers of largemouth and smallmouth yellow fish. Both are already endangered species.
Other fish affected included carp and bream, both exotic species.
Venter said it took about seven years to reach sexual maturity.
Several generations of the fish have now been wiped out, said Venter.
He added that the fish, which can grow to 25kg, was popular with anglers because it fought furiously when hooked.
He added that angling was a R1.3bn industry and much of it took place along the banks of the Vaal.
Marius Keet, a department of water affairs and forestry assistant director for water quality management, said the river's oxygen level of the river below the Klip River was very low, while the ammonia level was very high.
He believed the sewerage washed into the Vaal when the Klip River flooded last week.
E. coli tests pending
The result of tests for the Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria in the water is still awaited.
E. coli are a good indicator of the amount of human excrement in water.
Human waste in water are associated with numerous diseases including dysentery, cholera and typhoid.
Rand Water on Monday warned the public not to make recreational use of the Vaal River at the barrage near Vanderbijlpark as there was a strong possibility of raw sewage having entered the water.
"It started two days ago. We don't know the cause, but there's a strong suspicion that it's raw sewage coming down the Klip River into the barrage at the Vaal River," said barrage catchment co-ordinator Peter Houger.
He said drinking water in the area was not affected.
North Rand police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said people should stay away from the barrage for the next 10 days.
The Gauteng police's water wing had also been deployed to the area to warn the public not to enter the water.
17/01/2006 09:32 - (SA)
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1864351,00.html
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Posted by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 10:58 |
By Guy Rogers - The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2006/01/10/news/n21_10012006.htm
“GOOD progress” is being made in addressing the serious backlog of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) at the Port Elizabeth office of the economic affairs, environment and tourism department.
That was the message yesterday from senior department official Professor Jeff Perez, following the launch of a strategy by MEC Andre de Wet in November last year to combat the crisis.
De Wet announced on November 25 that a team of officials was due to arrive the following week to help address the severe lack of manpower in the Port Elizabeth EIA review office, which was what had led to the problem.
Leading up to the announcement, private environmental consultants had warned of a crisis in which eco-protection, integrated planning and worthy projects were falling by the wayside.
Unscrupulous developers were simply pushing ahead without approved EIAs and “taking the consequences if they came”, while law-abiding developers were incurring tremendous costs related to delays, they warned.
The staff shortage was also putting pressure on the incumbent EIA review staff in terms of their duty to consider the environmental sensitivity of each project site and to put through sound decisions, they said.
The Democratic Alliance stated in the Bhisho legislature in November that 217 projects “are being delayed” due to the manpower problem.
Perez said the backlog included EIAs at different stages of completion, however.
“It’s not a pure formality and a matter of pushing them through. We have to look at what is being proposed. But six officials seconded from our four other regional headquarters, at East London, Queenstown, Mthatha and Kokstad, have been deployed to the PE office and good progress is being made in getting through the backlog.”
Confirming this situation, a local environment department official said there were too many changes and variables in terms of the EIA process – including response time from consultants and developers – to say by when the backlog would be cleared.
Perez said an extra environmental officer had already been hired full-time, and three more posts had been advertised. There had been a good response to these adverts and these appointments were “in the pipeline”.
By Guy Rogers - The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2006/01/10/news/n21_10012006.htm
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Posted by INGELA RICHARDSON
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Monday, 24 May 2010 10:57 |
By Ingela Richardson - The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n22_13012006.htm
MANY South Africans are in need of the most basic necessity for survival – water. Castaways on a deserted island know that their first imperative is to have a source of fresh, clean, drinkable water.
South African legislation makes it clear that: “water, wherever it occurs in the water cycle, is a resource common to all, the use of which shall be subject to national control” and “the water required to meet basic human needs and the needs of the environment shall be identified as the reserve and shall enjoy priority of use by right” (White Paper on Water Policy, April 1997).
This reserve is defined by the National Water Act of 1998 as: “the quantity and quality of water required to meet basic human needs and to protect aquatic resources”.
According to law, providing the basic means of survival, such as water for households and food production is a priority, and should therefore be an immediate priority before any particular industry can lay claim to excess water. There can be no justification for a decision to provide water in immense quantities for one industry while families go without both water and food.
South Africa is a dry country, struggling to meet its water needs. Some rivers are polluted or over-used, and others are being neglected as possible water resources.
The former Transkei – an area of intense conflict between environmentalists and the mining industry – may hold the key for the rest of the nation. Despite being consistently denied or overlooked, this region holds a resource more precious than any mineral.
According to Prof Giel Laker, retired professor of soil science from the University of Pretoria, the bulk of unused water in South Africa is in the Transkei rivers, especially the Mzimvubu and its big tributaries, the Mzimhlava, Tina and Tsitsa.
Laker says there are also surpluses in Transkei rivers like the Mthata, Bashee and Great Kei and even the Keiskamma in the Ciskei.
Coastal mining industries, such as the dune-mining project planned at Xolobeni, require an immense amount of water, about as much water as a town in a day.
University of Natal geologist Dr Ron Uken says fresh water is needed in the mining process – seawater cannot be used – and “massive” amounts of electricity.
The Xolobeni project spans five rivers and there are obvious implications for the ecology of the rivers and consequences for the human communities dependent upon them.
Aside from the water required by the mining itself, there is the immense amount of fresh water and electricity required by the smelter that the mining company intends to build in Pondoland or East London.
A decision to devote water resources to one project might well preclude another, either by eliminating its supply, or by making its supply too expensive.
Agriculture would also be affected by the toxicity of fluoride and other emissions into the air and water from the smelter. Health costs would spiral.
Transkei is the area in South Africa with the highest average rainfall and not just in the mountain areas. The largest part of the country’s small area classified as “humid” is there.
According to Laker, if more efficient use were made of rainwater in dryland cropping, it would contribute considerably to alleviation of rural poverty.
Engineers may be regarding the Mzimvubu River as the next catchment from which to transfer water across the escarpment to water-stressed catchments, but this would deny the potential development of East Pondoland and the Mzimvubu-Keiskamma water management area in the areas of agriculture, industry and tourism.
According to a plan for the development of the Mzimvubu catchment, drafted under the leadership of Dr Henry Olivier in 1985, water conduits could go to the western plateau of the Transkei and north-east to the Lusikisiki area. This could stabilise and possibly expand the Magwa tea plantations that produce some of South Africa’s best quality tea, essential after the closure of tea plantations in Limpopo province.
Dams could be added at the Tstitsa Falls and on the Tina, Kinira, upper Umzimvubu and Umzintlava River catchments, to be channeled through Tsitsa and Mbokazi reservoirs. According to the Olivier report, this would produce more hydro-electricity than the Snowy Mountain scheme in Australia.
This is a weighty consideration since the Southern African report on a desperate need for additional energy sources.
A geologically stable site for the Mbokazi Dam has been identified, which could be bigger than the Gariep Dam.
An Umzimvubu Basin Development Authority could be established to implement the projects to create employment, and stimulate agriculture and food production in a region that is one of the poorest in South Africa.
Laker says: “I have been there, and I have been there repeatedly. And I have not only driven along the main roads, I have been beyond where the road ends, and you have to walk.”
There is prime potential for the development of tourism along the Wild Coast, but this potential extends further to the Drakensberg areas, the waterfalls such as the Tsitsa, Tina and Magwa, and the trails to get there.
According to Laker, the trail to get to the Mzimvubu falls is “absolutely breathtaking”, in one place, with a “forest” of aloes of every colour.
Retired civil engineering management consultant Mourits Read has a copy of a comprehensive plan for the development of towns in central and north-eastern Transkei such as Libode, Lusikisiki, Tabankulu and Mount Frere, that planning organisations could use to assist these areas to progress.
Laker says: “It is almost as if Transkei and Ciskei are still not considered part of South Africa.”
If people in these and other areas are consistently denied their basic needs for water, South Africa as a nation will suffer the consequences.
By Ingela Richardson - The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/news/n22_13012006.htm
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Posted by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 10:56 |
By Patrick Cull, Political Editor
The Herald - http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2005/11/24/news/n24_24112005.htm
Bhisho – About 217 projects in the western part of the Eastern Cape, including the multi-billion-rand Madiba Bay project, are being delayed because of the slow pace at which environmental impact assessments are being processed.
Speaking during the debate on the economic affairs, environment and tourism annual report in the legislature, Bobby Stevenson (DA) said the reason for the delay was that only two people were available to deal with EIAs instead of six.
“This has catastrophic implications for economic growth and development in this province,” he said. As a result employment creation was being stifled in the metro and other parts of the province served by the Port Elizabeth office of the environment department.
Stevenson said delays in the approval of EIAs resulted in delays in getting development off the ground “with grave financial implications for the potential developers”.
“Can we expect developers to hang on for months and months and be disappointed when they take their initiatives elsewhere?” he asked.
He said the Madiba Bay project involved a R4,5-billion investment that would create 5 300 permanent jobs and 30 000 jobs during construction and was part of the metro’s Vision 2020 projects.
He said he had been told Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Nceba Faku had even written to the Premier “expressing his concern in this regard”.
Stevenson said the Madiba Bay developers had now been waiting four months for approval, and if this EIA was not approved within the first quarter of the new year, “it will delay this project by a year”.
“This is something we cannot afford to let happen.”
He warned that there were also investments at Coega where EIAs would be required, saying that if South Africa and the Eastern Cape wished to be competitive in the global environment “then we need to practise international standards”.
“Failure to fill these vacant posts and the consequences that it is having can only be described as bureaucratic bungling at its worst. Why has this crisis been allowed to develop in the first place? Why were the consequences of the shortfalls in staff not foreseen and action taken?
“If this government is serious about economic growth,” he said to MEC Andre de Wet, “you must ensure that these posts are filled. Even if you advertise the posts tomorrow, there will still be massive delays. You must also ensure that the staff who are recruited are senior enough to handle the complex EIAs that are associated with major developments in the NMMM.”
In reply, De Wet agreed that the matter was urgent and that he was looking at five strategies that would enable the office to function at its best efficiency levels.
By Patrick Cull, Political Editor
The Herald - http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2005/11/24/news/n24_24112005.htm
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Posted by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 10:55 |
The Herald - http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2005/11/24/news/n06_24112005.htm
Pretoria – Eight of South Africa’s nine provinces are being severely affected by drought, the agriculture department said yesterday.
Hardest hit are northern parts of KwaZulu Natal, said the department’s drought and risk management senior manager Ikalafeng Kgakgatsi.
These were followed by the western parts of North West; the Karoo and southern parts of the Northern Cape; northern parts of the Western Cape; isolated areas in the Eastern Cape and the western and north- western parts of Limpopo.
The only province largely unaffected was Gauteng, where there had been only small pockets of dry weather.
“Certain parts of Limpopo have been flagged as disaster areas since 2003/04. The drought has since spread from those areas into other municipalities this year,” Kgakgatsi said.
“The drought is affecting 27 out of Limpopo’s 37 municipalities,” said Mogale Nchabeleng, spokesman for Limpopo premier Solly Moloto.
The province had set aside R100-million for water provision and drought relief, but hoped the national government would respond this month to submissions for additional funding, he said.
“The money is needed not only for farming, but also for hospitals that have run out of water and game farms with no food for the animals,” Nchabeleng said. “We have made sure that the national government is aware that the drought situation requires serious intervention.”
The National Treasury has already put up R120-million to help farmers deal with the drought, Kgakgatsi said.
The SA weather service is predicting a 50 per cent chance of below-normal rainfall in the western parts of the country between December and February. – Sapa
The Herald - http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2005/11/24/news/n06_24112005.htm
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Posted by Enviroadmin
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Monday, 24 May 2010 10:54 |
According to the Daily Dispatch report of 24 October, developers are looking at putting almost 100 000ha under forest plantations.
Retired professor of soil science, Giel Laker responds: “I received a report from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) on potential forestry development in East Pondoland, asking me for comments. My first response was that during Transkei days there was strong lobbying by private companies that forestry development should be allowed in the high potential areas of East Pondoland. I said that I, and other colleagues in the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Fort Hare, fought this with all our might. This does not mean that I am against forestry per se, but I am against developing it on high (and even medium) potential arable land.
Prof Laker says that in the report the Daily Dispatch editor makes a valid point regarding the dangers of injudicious forestry development. The area has large forestry potential that does not have to harm other development, such as agriculture. He says it is unfortunate that forestry developers have been eyeing the high potential agricultural land of East Pondoland for many decades, because the terrain would make life easier for them.
But Prof Laker continues that the Daily Dispatch editor is in error to state that trees help to combat erosion by binding the soil. Only dense grass cover would bind soil effectively and give effective protection against raindrop impact and thus effective protection against erosion.
He says: “Bush encroachment and bush densification in grassland leads to tremendous erosion. There is serious erosion in afforested areas also.”
Prof Laker states that developed countries are pumping the bulk of their carbon dioxide into the air. They have cleared their forests and are using masses of energy. They should be planting forests and cutting down on energy use, but then their production and dominance of world markets would go down.
According to Prof Laker, developed countries use a “carbon-coupon” strategy which means that instead of withdrawing farmland and cutting down on energy use, they pay undeveloped countries to continue using very little energy and keep or plant forests instead of growing food. In this way, they are able to continue as before.
This effectively means that countries that provide food are in control of those countries that cannot provide their own food and become dependent on food aid. The need for food holds them hostage to developed countries.
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