Good morning! Here is some interesting news on the collaboration between the Minerals Council and the Department of Water and Sanitation on the issue of water conservation.
Please remember to follow the links provided if you wish to read the full or the original articles.
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“Minerals Council, water dept collaborate on water conservation, demand management project
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA) have reached a significant milestone in a collaborative exercise on water conservation and water demand management aimed at driving water savings and usage improvements in the mining industry.
The collaboration between the DWS and the MCSA has evolved over several years, with the most recent project being the development of commodity-based national water use efficiency benchmarks to guide acceptable levels of water use and, thereby, drive improvements in water use efficiency.
The project’s output is found in two recently published documents. The first document ‘Guidelines for the Development and Implementation of Water Conservation and Water Demand Management Plans for the Mining Sector’ is based on comprehensive research findings in the second document ‘Benchmarks for Water Conservation and Water Demand Management in the Mining Sector’.
The research was carried out at 39 different mining operations, including coal, gold, platinum, diamonds, chrome, iron-ore, manganese, copper, phosphate, heavy mineral sands and dolomite quarries, besides others, that have been shown, through evaluation of production and water use data, to be representative of the national mining industry. It provides a set of national water use efficiency benchmarks.
One aspect of the value of the study and guidelines is it becomes possible to develop optimal water conservation and water demand management plans and targets based on the mineral being mined and on a range of other relevant factors. There are many climatic, surface and groundwater, mining methods and operational variables that could influence the most optimal water conservation and water demand management opportunities.
Mines will now develop water saving plans based on the guidelines and will report yearly according to specified templates set out in the guidelines.
“This project has firmly reinforced the notion that a great deal of public good can flow from cooperative work between business and government. We hope to hear more in the years ahead about the water savings that will be achieved thanks to these efforts, MCSA CEO Roger Baxter said on Friday.”
EDITED BY: CHANEL DE BRUYN
CREAMER MEDIA SENIOR DEPUTY EDITOR ONLINE
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Some more on the same subject from Mining Review
“The Department of Water and Sanitation and the Minerals Council South Africa have successfully reached a significant milestone in a collaborative exercise on water conservation and water demand management aimed at driving water saving and usage improvements in the mining industry.
The collaboration between Minerals Council South Africa (MCSA) and the Department of Water and Sanitation has evolved over years with the recent project being the development of commodity-based national water use efficiency benchmarks to guide the acceptable levels of water usage and thereby to drive improvements in water use efficiency.
This work is done in line with the objectives set out in the National Water Conservation/Water Demand Management Strategy (NWC/WDMS), together with the Industry, Power and Mining Sector Strategy as well as the National Water Resource Strategy.
The project’s output is found in two recently published documents.
The first is “Guidelines for the development and implementation of water conservation and water demand management plans for the mining sector”.
The guidelines are based on comprehensive research findings found in the second document: “Benchmarks for water conservation and water demand management in the mining sector”.
The documents can be found at www.dwa.gov.za/Projects/WUE/Documents.aspx on the DWS website (items 3.2 and 3.3) and at www.mineralscouncil.org.za/work/environment/environmental-resources on the MCSA website site.”
For the full article, please click on the link to the site.
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