Sick water?

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.

How to get industry to clean up its act?

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 Bottled water

Before Mining

Rainfall filtering through soil

Surface runoff

Filtering soils

Sulfide

Groundwater

After Mining

(Source: Pacific Institute http://www.pacinst.org/topics/water_and_ sustainability/bottled_water/bottled_water_and_energy.html)

Surface runoff

Mine

Filtering soils

Sulfide

 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)).

Groundwater

OXYGEN + WATER + SULPHIDE = SULFURIC ACID Heavy Metals Fish Mortality

Extraction decreases groundwater depth and natural filtration, and increases the groundwater contamination.

38