So i read this story this morning, and promptly shat myself.
Johannesburg - Millions of litres of highly acidic mine water is rising up under Johannesburg and, if left unchecked, could spill out into its streets some 18 months from now, Parliament's water affairs portfolio committee heard on Wednesday.
The acid water is currently about 600m below the city's surface, but is rising at a rate of between 0.6 and 0.9m a day, water affairs deputy director water quality management Marius Keet told MPs
Ok, 2 years before JHB does Venice.
She told MPs that residents of many of Gauteng's poorer communities were living alongside, and in some cases on top of, land contaminated by mining activities. They were exposed to high concentrations of cobalt, zinc, arsenic, and cadmium, all known carcinogens, as well as high levels of radioactive uranium.
Come again what the f***?
More than 43 000 tons of gold and 73 000 tons of uranium have been extracted from the region's mines.
According to Liefferink, this mining activity has left a legacy of about 400km² of mine tailings dams and about six billion tons of pyrite tailings containing low-grade uranium.
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