Atlas of industrial wastewater reuse potential in South Africa

Abstract

The South African economy largely depends on mining and other large industries. According to the National Water Resources Strategy 2 (DWA, 2013a), the mining sector, with an estimated demand of about 5% of the country’s available water, is a significant user of water. Coal and Platinum mining in particular is currently expanding into new areas with a projected increase in water demand. Many of these mines are located in water resource scarce catchments (e.g. the Lephalale and Steelpoort areas in the Limpopo province) where the availability of water can become a significant business risk. Water availability should however not be a limiting factor to growth in the country. Water resources management and development should prioritise availability of water to industry. Similarly, implementation of water conservation and water demand management (WC/WDM) measures within the mining sector is required in order to minimise this risk (DWS, 2016).