Sick water?

38 / 88

38
nols, cresols, naphthalene, anthracene and complex organic
compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).
Water is also used as a lubricant in industrial machinery and
can become contaminated with hydraulic oils, tallow, tin, chro-
mium, ferrous sulphates and chlorides and various acids.
Industry has a primary responsibility to reduce the production
of toxic waste. Many incentives are based on voluntary mea-
sures, but governments and the public sector must play a cen-
tral role in monitoring, regulating and also implementing pol-
icy to reduce toxic waste. Industrialized nations have generally
recognized that in theory it is simpler and more cost-effective
to deploy cleaner production processes than to clean up large-
scale industrial pollution. Pollution from wastewater depreci-
ates land values, increases municipal costs and causes numer-
ous adverse biological and human health effects, the cost of
which are difficult to calculate.
 Figure 13: Mining effects on rainfall drainage. Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is
the number one environmental problem facing the mining industry. AMD occurs
when sulphide-bearing minerals in rock are exposed to air and water, changing
the sulphide to sulphuric acid. AMD can devastate aquatic habitats, is difficult to
treat with existing technology, and once started, can continue for centuries (Ro-
man mine sites in Great Britain continue to generate acid drainage 2 000 years
after mining ceased (Mining Watch Canada, 2006)).
In many countries the responsibility for industrial wastewater
treatment falls on ordinary taxpayers. In the absence of a user-
pays system for pollution control, large volumes of contami-
nated industrial wastewater end up in municipal sewage treat-
ment plants, which are expensive to construct, operate and
maintain. The Netherlands introduced a series of incentives
to polluters to reduce pollution at source, rather than opting
for the more expensive end-of-pipe solution of public sewage
treatment. This approach has been cost-effective in reaching
water quality targets (the Urban Waste Water Treatment Di-
rective). In contrast other European member states who have
not introduced a polluter-pays system or have been slow to
adopt one have consequently not reached targets (e.g. France)
or have paid a high price to do so (e.g. Denmark)(EEA, 2005).
The problem of poor water quality in many urban centres has
been one of the factors that have lead those who can afford it
to turn to bottled water. Bottled water sales worldwide have
increased rapidly with global consumption now at more than
200 000 million litres a year. While the USA is the biggest
consumer of bottled water, China has shown the strongest
growth, increasing consumption by more than 15 per cent
since 2003 (Beverage Marketing Corporation). The cost of
producing bottled water is a serious concern. In the United
States it is estimated that the production of the bottles alone
requires 17 million barrels of oil a year and it takes three litres
of water to produce one litre of bottled water
(Source: Pacific Institute
sustainability/bottled_water/bottled_water_and_energy.html)
How to get industry to clean up its act?
Bottled water
After Mining
Filtering soils
Groundwater
Surface runoff
Mine
Sulfide
OXYGEN + WATER + SULPHIDE = SULFURIC ACID
Heavy Metals Fish Mortality
Filtering soils
Groundwater
Rainfall filtering
through soil Surface runoff
Before Mining
Sulfide
Extraction decreases groundwater depth and
natural filtration, and increases the
groundwater contamination.