CAPE TOWN – The executives of Royal Dutch Shell trod a fine line on Wednesday between constructive comment and outright criticism of the draft Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill. As a foreign company applying for licences to explore for shale gas in the Karoo, the Group is mindful of its P’s and Q’s. [...]

Pittsburgh – The oil and gas industry is trying to ease environmental concerns by developing nontoxic fluids for the drilling process known as fracking, but it’s not clear whether the new product will be widely embraced by drilling companies. Houston-based energy giant Halliburton has developed a product called CleanStim, which uses only food-industry ingredients. Other [...]

Johannesburg – High levels of manganese have been detected in water in areas in Pretoria, the City of Tshwane said on Tuesday. Spokesperson Nomasonto Ndlovu said areas including Montana, Sinnoville, Wonderboom and Pretoria North were affected but that the water posed no health risk. “Manganese and iron at high concentration affects the aesthetic appearance of [...]

The small Mpumalanga town hit the headlines a year ago when heavy rains washed pollution into its dam – its main source of water. The acid mine water in the dam overwhelmed the treatment works and the water became dangerous. The next seven months saw an intermittent supply from water tankers to residents in the [...]

Farmers have complained that sand being used  to build Eskom’s mega-power station Medupi is still being mined illegally, which is destroying the main local water source. Two years ago farmers in Lephalale complained that sand mining was destroying the Mokolo River, which flows into the Limpopo River. But the government said the power station was [...]

Johannesburg – Gold producer AngloGold Ashanti has been charged with contaminating water in Stilfontein by the Federation for Sustainable Environment, a report said on Wednesday. Head of the federation Mariette Liefferink told the Mail & Gaurdian that the charges had been laid due to repeated spillages, when water leaked out of AngloGold’s tailings dam in [...]

Controversy continues to stalk the bilateral Lesotho Highlands water scheme because Lesotho’s new coalition government wants to scrap “prejudicial” sections of the country’s agreement with South Africa governing the construction of the proposed R9-billion Polihali dam. The 1999 agreement, unearthed by the Lesotho Times last week, clearly reflects South Africa’s desire for greater control over [...]

Plans by the eThekwini municipality to use recycled water to provide 10% of its water needs have been dealt a heavy blow by citizens. A petition with 5 000 signatures was handed over to the municipality as part of the environmental impact assessment, soundly rejecting the idea. The Mercury reported many of the complaints dealt with [...]