The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) yesterday accused eight Mpumalanga coal mines of “significant” non-compliance with their water use licence conditions.
In its full disclosure report the non-profit organisation outlined the performance and behaviour of these mining companies as well as their impact on the environment.
Despite issuing water use licences, the Mpumalanga Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) had failed to monitor the mine’s usage or enforce the necessary action for violations, CER said.
“Licence holders took advantage of the delays by the DWS in processing applications for water use licences or licence amendments,” CER noted.
According to the report, six out of the eight mines use an estimated 8 million cubic metres of water per year.
“These audits are supposed to be a safety net for regulators, picking up violations and risks that may have been missed in regular compliance monitoring by inspectors,” Leanne Govindsamy, CER head of Corporate Accountability Programme commented.
“Instead, they have become the only compliance monitoring that takes place, creating a massive loophole for violations.”
