Full disclosure: the truth about Mpumalanga coal mines failure to comply with their water use licences
Coal companies rely significantly on water, but their water-use licences in Mpumalanga, the heart of coal country, go unchecked in a system almost designed to promote pollution, a new report has found. Coal mining companies in Mpumalanga are required to pay for the water they use but a new study has found that businesses which are collectively using up to eight million cubic metres of water a year have had to ask for their invoices while the Department of Water and Sanitation, recently merged with the Department of Human Settlements, fails to charge or monitor their water use. The details are contained in a new report from the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), titled Full Disclosure: The Truth About Mpumalanga Coal Mines' Failure to Comply with their Water Use Licences, which describes a scene of unchecked environmental damage and authorities allowing it to happen.
