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Irrigation should be explored as a sustainable management solution to the acid mine drainage legacy of the Witwatersrand goldfields
Annandale, John George; Du Plessis, Meiring; Tanner, Philip Dale; Heuer, Sarah; Madiseng, Lesego
Mine closure in the Witwatersrand Goldfields of South Africa has resulted in an acid mine drainage (AMD) legacy that is
difficult to manage and costly to address. As a short-term measure, three large high-density sludge (HDS) plants were erected
that treat 185 megalitres of AMD per day (ML/day), at great cost to taxpayers. Longer-term solutions are sought, as the salt
load to the Vaal River System is unacceptable. Long-term modelling was used to assess whether the untreated and HDStreated
AMD could be used for irrigation and to determine the scale of the potential opportunity. The Goldfields waters are
not very acidic, and simulations indicate it should be feasible to utilise even the untreated water for irrigation, especially if
growers commit to applying limestone to their fields. HDS treatment lowers the corrosivity and trace element concentrations,
and because the water is gypsiferous, double cropping will precipitate more than a third of the salts in solution as gypsum
in the soil profile, thereby reducing salt load to the water environment. The potential irrigated area depends on the cropping
system; it is about 9000 ha for rotational cropping and 30,000 ha for supplemental maize irrigation. It is prudent to seriously
consider irrigation as a potential long-term water management option for the Goldfields AMD.
Description:
DATA AVAILABILITY : This is a modelling study, and all the input data
required to run the simulations discussed in this paper are given (water
qualities, cropping systems, irrigation strategy, local weather stations
in close proximity to water sources). In addition, a link is given to
download the DSS free of charge, so any interested reader can recreate
the output data generated by the DSS.