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No, no to this sludge dam
Residents are fighting for the preservation of Blesbokspruit, their properties.
Residents of the Blesbokspruit and Largo areas say no to a dump site of sludge coming from a acid mine water purification plant.
This was the sentiment at the second public meeting of Digby Wells Environmental, that has to determine the social and environmental impact of a sludge disposal facility and pipeline, that was held on Wednesday evening at Stable Inn.
Steve Horak of Digby Wells reminded residents and affected parties that the meeting of was part of their scoping process to get residents’ as well as other interested and affected parties’ comments on the proposed dump as well as a pipeline to Blesbokspruit to discharge the treated water and a pipe to the dump site.
More in-depth studies will be done after this process was finished.
Residents and other affected parties has time until August 11 to comment on the proposals.
The document is available for scrutiny on www.digbywells,com or at Springs Library.
At Wednesday’s meeting Mel Pillay, Horak’s colleague explained that the high density sludge treatment plant from where the sludge will come, is currently built close to Grootvlei number 3 shaft.
It will be commissioned in 14 to 15 months from now.
The government on national level decided that the plant had to be erected there to treat acid mine water with lime to neutralize it before the treated water is discharged into Blesbokspruit
Pillay explained two sites were identified for dumping the sludge, the Grootvlei sludge disposal site, located on the existing sludge site of the mine and the second one is on Largo 4, currently zoned and used as agricultural ground.
Several residents at this meeting asked if they, as land owners had no rights to have their say on developments on their doorsteps.
The residents present all agreed they do not want this dump in their area.
They asked the environmentalists to supply the correct information on the matter their final environmental report, because development depended on what is reported in it.
The residents said most of these land owners had to pay a bond and feared that their property values will decline because of this development and they will be left with an unsightly “mountain” for the rest of their and their children’s lives.
The residents asked the environmentalists to consider other ways of disposing the sludge than a sludge dam, as well as to investigate alternative sites than the two proposed sites, as both sites are according to them not suitable.
Gert Parsons on behalf of Afriforum suggested Daggafontein 125-IR as an alternative site, as is far from people and animals.
Charl van der Merwe of Blesbokspruit Educational Trust also asked for an alternative site.
André du Plessis, the DA’s chief whip in Ekurhuleni as well as spokesman for the DA in the metro amongst others asked why the government decided to erect the plant at Grootvlei.
Read about the previous meeting, also held at Stable Inn.
