Climate change will make some areas of South Africa wetter and others drier, says global consulting engineering group SRK Consulting partner and hydrologist Peter Shepherd, who warns that mines will have to deal with having too much or too little water.

He believes that climate change will primarily reduce the available water supply in the main mining areas in the country as well as increase evaporation. This will result in having to increase the makeup water requirement at these mines.

Shepherd says local research has shown that change in the global climate is affecting the way local mines need to plan and build their infrastructure, particularly water management infrastructure.

“The need for a thorough review of specifications is becoming urgent. “Mines are already including plans to secure additional water in the drier South African areas and are carrying out stormwater risk assessments to meet the potential changes that could be expected,” he says.

According to recent research, climate change will make the eastern parts of South Africa significantly wetter, and the western regions drier.

It is predicted that, in the eastern areas of the country, mines will experience an increase in the amount of water that the mine will need to deal with to prevent spillage into the environment, while those in the western parts will need to reuse and reclaim their existing water to assist in minimising the use of local water resources.

“Managing the on-mine water balance in drier areas is going to require better reuse strategies.

“Continued improvement is required in the design and implementation of ways to keep dirty water within the mine boundary and to limit the amount of clean water that mines procure from municipal or other sources.”

In areas where more rain is predicted, mines face the prospect of breaking the law if their infrastructure is not able to limit mine spillage into the environment surrounding the site.

Facilities in these areas must be designed or modified to account for the changes in rainfall patterns.

“For instance, if a tailings dam is designed for a 1-in-50-year storm event, and changing climatic conditions reduce this probability to one in 20 years, then this can pose a severe threat to the downstream environment.”

Using recent research, SRK scientists Phillip Hull and Hediyih Ghassai predict that a 40% increase in rainfall could more than double the amount of contaminated water spilled by a mine into the environment. This can be minimised through careful planning of the water resources of South Africa.