Abstract
South Africa’s Vaal River is the country’s hardest working rivers. It has been instrumental in securing valuable water supplies in the development of the country’s economic hub – the Gauteng Province. Since the mid-twentieth century there have been increasing indications of water pollution threatening the storage facility of the Vaal River Barrage, built by the water utility, Rand Water, at the start of the twentieth century. Currently, as a result of a variety of factors, untreated wastewater is posing a severe environmental threat in the Vaal River Barrage Catchment area. In the article attention is given to the origins of pollution and recent events that had the effect of mobilising grassroots anger in civil society with the state of affairs. The article forms part of a transdisciplinary research project that is currently conducted at North-West University’s Vaal Triangle campus in Vanderbijlpark.
Highlights
As a result of a variety of factors, untreated wastewater is posing a severe environmental threat in the Vaal River Barrage Catchment area
In the article attention is given to the origins of pollution and recent events that had the effect of mobilising grassroots anger in civil society with the state of affairs
South Africa’s Vaal River has played a crucial role in the development of the country. This river that extends over a distance of little more than 1300km, would be considered, by international standards
Summary
18 JWN Tempelhoff, “Time and the river: observations on the Vaal River as source of water to the Witwatersrand 1903-24” Historia 46(1), May 2001, pp. 247-70. 18 JWN Tempelhoff, “Time and the river: observations on the Vaal River as source of water to the Witwatersrand 1903-24” Historia 46(1), May 2001, pp. At the time of its completion in 1938 the Vaal Dam provided water to the Vaalharts irrigation scheme, near Warrenton in the Northern Cape Province. This was at the time of its completion the largest irrigation scheme in the southern hemisphere. A substantial portion of the storage capacity of the dam was allocated to Rand Water for distribution to the urban settlements and industrial sector on the Witwatersrand.[19]. Hertzoggedenklesing, XXXV, Pretoria, 21 September 2006 (Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, Pretoria) pp. 26-28
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