Limberg adds that the City has mitigation and monitoring measures in place , and it is confident its environmental approach is adequate . “ The City has a significant amount of research that has been done over the past 10 years or so , giving us a great understanding of the aquifers and where they exist and what risks there are when these sources are tapped into . And obviously , we believe that we are drilling in a very sensitive way by sticking to the yields that the Department of Water and Sanitation has approved but also complying [ with ] the environmental authorisations that have been granted from the Department of Environmental Affairs . And obviously , the environmental control officers also have to report accordingly , and everything is documented in respect to the entire drilling exercise . And we believe all of these things combined , as well as the City ’ s focus on replenishing these aquifers , will also ensure that we safeguard these water sources ,” she says .
City compromising ‘ critical ecological infrastructure ’
But Associate Professor Adam West from the University of Cape Town ’ s Biological Sciences department says owing to the particular vulnerability of the region ’ s localised , threatened species , past studies do not negate the need for a thorough EIA . West is part of a group of experts who drafted a letter of concern addressed to City officials . In the statement , the group of prominent scientists warns that the City will “ compromise critical ecological infrastructure upon which the health of the region and its people rely and potentially contravene several international commitments to which South Africa is a signatory ”. To underscore just how vulnerable some of the plants in the region are , the letter points to a critically endangered species of protea , Mimetes stokoei , “ whose entire world population would fit into a tennis court ”. Therefore , even an operation with a relatively small footprint could still devastate a particularly vulnerable population . According to the scientists , a quick scoping exercise looking at the potential impact of the drill sites on threatened ecosystems and plant species found that nearly all ( 214 of the 222 ) drill points for which there is spatial information occur within threatened ecosystems , which would normally trigger several stringent requirements for a thorough EIA . The letter goes further to state that : “ The drill sites also intersect with 5 652 known populations of species of conservation concern , representing 266 separate species … These are staggeringly high numbers for any development .”
Risks not merited
It recommends that similar scoping exercises should be done for fish , amphibians , and freshwater invertebrates . While the immediate impacts of infrastructure such as cables , pipes , and vehicle access are a primary problem for ecologists , the secondary concern is how the falling water table may affect rare plants growing in marshy soil fed by groundwater . In the document , the group points to the devastating impacts groundwater abstraction has had on ecosystems elsewhere in the world .
According to the scientists , a quick scoping exercise looking at the potential impact of the drill sites on threatened ecosystems and plant species found that nearly all ( 214 of the 222 ) drill points for which there is spatial information occur within threatened ecosystems , which would normally trigger several stringent requirements for a thorough EIA . networking contributor innovations industry debate environment infrastructure municipalities
Water Sewage & Effluent March / April 2018 29