South Africa Prepares For $900 Million Project To Clean Up Toxic Water

South Africa got funds for a program that may cost 10 billion rand ($900 million) to clean up toxic water leaking from abandoned mine shafts in and around Johannesburg.

After intensively mining in the region for 120 years, Africa’s richest city is littered with enormous underground mined-out caverns that have become flooded. Water combines with toxic metals such as uranium, a by-product of gold mining, and seeps out into rivers, a process called acid-mine drainage.

“An amount of 10 billion rand is required for acid-mine drainage mitigation in the Witwatersrand gold fields,” the Department for Water and Sanitation said in response to a parliamentary question. “Funding was recently secured with concurrence between the Department and the National Treasury,” it said, without specifying the amount or type of funds.