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WWatt’s Going On?Water wastage amounts to3 litres a day for every living personBetween the United States andCanada about 20-billion litresof water are wasted every daybecause of leaks in the urbanwater system and experts point out that morewater disappears each day than is needed toprovide every person on the planet with up tothree litres of water a day.Canadian civil engineer, Ken Brothers,blamed management inertia and resistanceto change for the consistent wastage ofprecious water resources. He says thatthe water scientists and engineers havethe ability and knowledge to stop theselosses but management of the differentwater authorities around the world are notinterested in preventing losses.This is not so in Manila, in the Philippines,where the largest water-saving project isunderway and, once complete, will result inthe saving of an estimated 1,5-million cubicmetres of water a day. Manila is currentlylosing enough treated water to supply fourcities the size of Vienna with their full quotaof water.According to Brothers, astonishing watersavings have been achieved in countrieslike India. He says that in Bangalore, forinstance, 185 000 people were living with awater system that delivered water to themfor a few hours every day.However, once all the leaks were repairedand the customers’ consumption was meteredit was possible for the water authorities toprovide a consistent water supply for 24hours a day. He blamed the leaky waterinfrastructure, in cities and towns aroundthe world, for the bulk of the wastage andsupply problems.Dumped fishing nets keep killingfish, turtles, dolphins and whalesMore than 640 000 tons of fishinggear gets dumped into thesea every year and abandonednets can keep on ‘ghost fishing’for years, needlessly and indiscriminatelykilling millions of fish according to a recentreport compiled by the United Nations EnvironmentProgramme.The report recommends that cash incentivesshould be introduced so fishermen willreturn damaged nets to the ports. It saysthat more accurate mapping of sub-oceanhazards should be done to prevent nets fromsnagging and then being cut away. It hasalso encouraged net manufacturers to designnets that incorporate innovative elementssuch as allowing them to dissolve in waterafter a predetermined period.Nets are known to sometimes snap instorms, get irretrievably snagged on submergedreefs or become entangled in otherfishing gear or debris on the ocean floor. Thediscarded nets can, according to the report,continue catching fish, turtles, sea birds andeven whales for years after being dumped.The report did not provide any figuresabout the estimated loss of marine life dueto fishing gear that been discarded but DavidOsborn, co-ordinator of UNEP’s GlobalProgramme of Action on land-based sourcesof marine pollution, says that dumpednets are a major problem. Apart from thedestruction they cause to marine species, thenets are a navigational hazard and often endup being snared in the propellers of otherships, causing immense amounts of damage.The report says that in the United Statesabout 150 000 crab pots are lost each yearout of the 500 000 that are used. It alsourges port authorities around the world toimpose a system of marking nets of all boats,so that if a net is discarded, then the ownerscan be tracked down and penalised or fined.In terms of innovative designs, UNEPsays that nets can be made to trap only limitedspecies of fish and let other, potentially morethreatened species easily get away.4
Berry’s and Apples makeup most of the cellphone pieResearch in Motion’s BlackBerryCurve — which dominates muchof the corporate smartphonemarket in the United States —has become the best selling phone in thecountry, outselling Apple’s iPhone. The Stormwas ranked third in the top five best sellingphones, followed by the company’s Pearlmodel at number four.Apple’s iPhone was the top-selling consumersmartphone in the third and fourthquarters of last year with the Curve secondand Palm’s Centro in third spot. Figurescompiled by research group NPD says thatBlackBerry’s buy-one-get-one-free promotion,run in conjunction with Verizon, pushedthe Curve’s sales past those of the iPhone.In the US, the iPhone is only availablethrough AT&T. RIM’s market share climbed15 percent from the previous quarter toalmost 50 percent of the smartphone marketin the first quarter of 2009 as Apple’s andPalm’s share fell be about 10 percent each.More than half of RIM’s 25-millionsubscribers are non-corporate owners ofsmartphones. Apple is expected to shortlyrelease its new iPhone model and Palm’shighly anticipated Pre has just been releasedin the US.Currently smartphones made up about 23percent of handset sales in the US in the firstquarter of the year.Acids from mines are threatening water suppliesAcids from old mines represent possiblythe most significant threat toSouth Africa’s environment accordingto water specialists and environmentalists.They warn that the problems experiencedat Pamodzi Gold’s Grootvlei Mine illustratethe severity of this threat.Earlier this year, the Department of Mineralsand Energy provided a R7,5-million subsidyto Pamodzi Gold’s Grootvlei mine so that itcould treat water from its operations.The cash-strapped company has been battlingto treat its mine water because of a shortageof cash and because of this was eventuallyforced to release untreated water into thenearby wetland to prevent flooding of the undergroundpumping station.Acid mine drainage (AMD) is seen by theDepartment of Water Affairs and Forestry(DWAF) as the most serious threat to groundandsurface-water pollution and it warns that,in the central and western basins of the Witwatersrandmine system, the threat is both presentand immediate and requires urgent intervention.According to the Department, the medium-and long-term consequences are even moreworrying as acid mine drainage could result inacid draining into the water table for centuriesto come.DWAF says the acid mine drainage affectswater quality in terms of salinity and the levelsof sulphates and heavy metals. While acid minedrainage accounts for about five percent of thevolume of water in the Vaal River, it accountsfor about 20 percent of the salinity, which couldinclude heavy metals.Although the mining companies haveploughed large sums into improving their watertreatment plants to prevent heavy mineralsbeing discharged into the rivers, the waterstandards specified in its directive have stillnot been met and partially treated water is stillbeing discharged into Tweelopiesspruit in thewestern region.Worse still, acid mine drainage has contributedto the contamination of boreholes downstreamfrom the region and the DWAF expectsthat mines will be hit with large claims forcompensation from farmers and other peoplewho have to use contaminated borehole waterdownstream.It is also possible that the polluted waterfrom mines could enter and severely damagethe Sterkfontein Caves, which form part of the3,5-million-year-old Cradle of Humankind.DWAF’s views are supported by water expert,Dr Anthony Turton, a director of TouchStoneResources, who warns that the gold-miningarea of the Witwatersrand Basin – which containslarge amounts of dolomite – presents thebiggest threat to the natural water resources inthe country.He expects that the next major decant frommines will take place at Wemmer Pan followedby the mines surrounding the Nigel area. Turtonwarns that in Mpumalanga, crocodiles livingalong the Olifants River are dying from acombination of acid mine drainage, agriculturalchemicals and sewage from urban settlementsthat flow into the river system.Acid mine drainage usually occurs in defunctmines and results from the oxidisation ofsulphide materials, such as pyrites, which areexposed in the mine or present in the dust underground.When mixed with water the acidityis sufficient to dissolve rocks that may containany number of toxic metals. The acidic solutionseeps into the ground-water or, as water levelsrise in the defunct mine (usually over a numberof years) it reaches a point where water seepsfrom the shafts into the surrounding river systemsor underground water resources.June 2009 5
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