VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – New analysis by the research arm of the Fitch Group, BMI, forecasts water scarcity and contamination in Latin America will drive increasingly stringent environmental regulations in the region over the coming years.
In Chile, the environmental regulatory body has been more aggressively pursuing and fining water mismanagement in the mining sector, levelling charges against Antofagasta Minerals’ Los Pelambres copper mine and effectively suspending Kinross Gold’s Maricunga gold mine, in 2016.
In Argentina, Barrick Gold paid a $9.8-million fine for a cyanide spill at the Veladero gold mine in 2016, agreeing to increase water monitoring at the operation in response.
In Brazil, following the 2015 tailings dam burst at the Samarco iron-ore mine, which killed nearly 20 people and polluted hundreds of kilometres of rivers, parent firms Vale and BHP Billiton face a $50-billion lawsuit for damages.
In March, a Brazilian judge suspended the lawsuit as the firms negotiate with prosecutors.
BMI highlighted Chile, Argentina and countries in Central America as particularly likely to enforce stricter water regulations on the back of scarcity, contamination or a combination of both issues.
While Chile boasts above-average water resources per capita, according to the latest UN water data from 2012, the country’s mining industry is concentrated in the Atacama desert, where freshwater scarcity is much more acute.
For instance, in Chile, desalination plants will be increasingly popular, if not mandated, as freshwater scarcity in the Atacama desert pushes miners to invest in alternative water sources.
In Peru, President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s administration will take an inclusive approach to help small-scale gold miners comply with regulations through reducing red tape and offering incentives such as banking services.
In April, Argentina’s government announced plans to invest $44-billion in water infrastructure, including a sewage system and treatment plant.

Floriculture wilts as temperatures soar, water scarcity adds to misery.
However, this summer being extra harsh, export activities have taken a hit.
According to data available with the Union Ministry of Agriculture, the total value of the floriculture business has come down from Rs 460.76 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 306.95 crore in 2015-16.
Karnataka accounts for a large portion of the floriculture business in the country with a total cultivated area of 30,900 hectares, followed by Tamil Nadu which has a cultivated area of 55,000 hectares of floriculture.
The bud size of the flowers have become small because of the heat and, hence, cannot be exported.
While previously Karnataka used to cater to the demand for roses in Australia and New Zealand, this market, too, has come down because of the quality of produce having gone down, said Anne Ramesh, member of International Flower Auction Bangalore and president of South India Florist Association.
The number of roses exported by us every month stand at nothing less than 1.5 million pieces.
However, at the moment, it is not more than 10,000,” she said.
Owing to drought and the climate change, over the past two years, production has been affected a lot,” said Sharath Hittalamane, retired additional director of horticulture.
Due to water scarcity, production has almost come to a standstill, he said.

Steel City admin steps up measures to tackle water crisis.
Jamshedpur: In the wake of reports of water scarcity from different parts of the Steel City, the district administration has constituted a team to monitor the movement of 26 water tankers that it had pressed into service in the affected areas.
Constituted on the instruction of Dhalbhum SDO, Manoj Kumar Ranjan, the monitoring team comprising officials of the sub division will coordinate with the notified area officials and various stakeholders to ensure round-the-clock service.
Earlier on Saturday, the district administration had started 24×7 cell where people can lodge complaints related to water scarcity.
With the increasing summer heat, more number of colonies under Mango Notified Area Committee (MNAC), Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC), Jugsalai municipal and Bagbera panchayat area are facing severe water crisis.
In MNAC, colonies like Dimna, Daiguttu, Old Purulia Road, Pardih, Sankosai, Olidih, Jharkhand colony among other areas have been receiving water from three tankers with each having capacity of 12000 litres.
"We are using tanker water for the purpose of drinking and cooking…we have to travel to Dimma lake and the Subarnarekha river every day for bathing and washing our clothes," travelling said a resident of Oldih, Tinku Singh.
As many as 45 slums located in Baridih and Birsanagar areas under JNAC have started getting water through tankers while the district administration plans to supply water tankers to rest of the areas soon.
"Presently, such areas that have directly approached the JNAC for the tanker service is being served," said in-charge, water distribution JNAC, P Kujur.
In Matladih, under Bagbera panchayat, that falls on the outskirts of the industrial town the residents are experiencing water woes since April 7 after the pump house run by the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) developed leading to suspension of tap water.

KMC to install water meters in households of Wards 1-6.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will install water meters in every household in Wards 1 to 6 respectively in North Kolkata to assess wastage of drinking water.
The funding agencies like Asian Development Bank had suggested imposition of water tax in the city.
Banerjee said not only would water tax not be imposed but also stressed that supply of filtered water would be augmented.
Accordingly, the KMC took steps to augment water supply.
So, wastage of water will be stopped.
A senior civic official said that when roadside taps were there in the city, nearly 10 million gallon of filtered water was wasted daily.
After the abolition of roadside taps, the wastage has been reduced to a great extent.
Once the KMC has this figured, it will be easier to stop the wastage.
He said that in the next few years, there would be no water scarcity in the city including some pockets where there is a shortage for various reasons.

This is how villagers in Telangana risk their lives to get water.
Water scarcity problem has become so acute in Telangana that villagers have to risk their lives every day, just to get a pot of water.
What is even more worrying is that the peak of summer months is yet to arrive.
Certain districts in Telangana such as Chandraghad in Mahabubnagar are facing such severe shortage of water that people are tying ropes to nearby trees and then lowering themselves into deep wells with the help of the rope.
A small slip can send them hurtling down to the bottom of these wells, which is an everyday risk that these people endure to get a pot of water.
Reports have shown that only 14 out of 67 municipalities are getting regular supply of water.
Rest everywhere else, the water supply is either on alternate days or even once in every3-4 days.
The situation is likely to worsen for the people of Telangana, as the weather department has predicted an extremely hot summer.
While political leaders have provided assurances at regular intervals, local people claim that no concrete action has been taken.
Even the children are unable to attend school due to water scarcity.

Water scarcity, pollution to take shine off Latin American mining sector.
A recent example of this trend is what happened in El Salvador, which last month passed a law that bans all mining for gold and other metals in the country, in an effort to protect its environment, particularly its water streams.
BMI expects the usage and treatment of water in the mining industry to come under increasing scrutiny in Latin America, as droughts or arid environments in key regions heighten tension between miners and local communities and previous incidents lead to additional regulations.
The researchers name Chile, Argentina and countries in Central America as the most likely to enforce stricter water regulations due to scarcity, contamination or a combination of both issues: In Chile, the environmental regulatory body (SMA) has been more aggressively pursuing and fining water mismanagement in the mining sector, levelling charges against Antofagasta Minerals’ Los Pelambres copper mine and effectively suspending Kinross Gold’s Maricunga gold mine in 2016.
In Argentina, Barrick Gold paid a $9.8mn fine for a cyanide spill at the Veladero gold mine in 2016, agreeing to increase water monitoring at the operation in res ponse.
In March, a provincial government suspended operations at the mine due to a pipeline issue and, in April, Barrick announced the sale of a 50% stake in the Veladero mine to Chinese firm Shangdong Gold Group for $9.6mn.
In Brazil, following the 2015 tailings dam burst at the Samarco iron ore mine which killed nearly 20 people and polluted hundreds of miles of rivers, parent firms Vale and BHP Billiton face a $50bn lawsuit for damages.
In March, a Brazilian judge suspended the lawsuit as the firms negotiate with prosecutors.
Tighter regulations will come at a time when illegal gold mining is once again picking up in the region on the back improving prices for the yellow metal.
“When the negative externalities of gold mining, namely mercury and cyanide exposure to water sources, are left unaddressed, public opinion on all mining activity can motivate extreme legislation,” BMI concludes.

Time to meet the scarcity.
It looks like the need of the hour is now.
It’s not summer yet but water scarcity has started to make its presence felt.
Melvin Fernandes, a quality auditor, says, “Around a month ago, we stopped getting water in the morning.
The residents were informed that the motor needs repair.
We found out later that the borewell had dried up and the owners were taking the help of private tankers to provide water to the residents.” He says that the water supply has been regulated to avoid wastage.
Similar to his situation is that of Ritu Kurtakoti, a content writer.
“Water is one of the basic necessities and knowing that we don’t have access to that is disheartening.
We have about two borewells in the apartment but they are slowly drying up.
I come back home late and when there is no water, it becomes a little difficult.

Grants released, but no drinking water.
The issue of drinking water scarcity echoed at the drought review meeting chairedby Zilla Panchayat president Chaitrashree Malathesh at Mudigere Taluk Panchayat on Tuesday.
Zilla Panchayat member K R Prabhakar said that several villages in Kalasa Gram Panchayat in the taluk have been facing acute drinking water shortage, although the Panchayat has received enough grants.
“Following the order, all gram panchayats, except Kalasa, have purchased tankers for supply of drinking water.” Taluk Panchayat vice president Savitha Ramesh said some people have been politicising the drinking water issue in Kirugunda Gram Panchayat.
The Zilla Panchayat president said that the panchayat development officers should inform of such incidents during meeting.
Spot inspections should be held in every village.
Some members said that load-shedding has been troubling the students in the rural areas of the taluk.
“Power supply should not be stopped during the examination time.
Also, uninterrupted power supply should be ensured for the drinking water supply process,” they urged.
Zilla Panchayat members Amita Muttappa and Sudha Yogesh, Taluk Panchayatexecutive officer Gurudutt and others were present at the drought review meeting.

During the meeting CM Das said that water scarcity especially in Santhal Pargana region will be sorted out with the help of the World Bank.
is working for the development of the state and eliminating poverty from it.
Small and cottage industry based on forest produce are being developed in the state.
Women are being trained and dairy, fisheries and poultry is being promoted.
The World Bank Country head said that Jharkhand will be a role model in pipeline water supply scheme.
He expressed his desire to take active participation in implementing other schemes of Jharkhand Govt.
CS Raj Bala Verma, Addl.
CS Amit Khare, Addl.
CS Sudhir Tripathi, Principal Sec to the CM Sanjay Kr., Sec to the CM Sunil Kr.
Barnwal and other officers were present in the meeting.

By Evelyn Harford, originally posted on November 10, 2016

 

Chelsea Metcalfe and her family live across the street from the Rideau Valley Marketplace and Liquidation Outlet fire site. They have faced serious fallout after the fire, which left the flea market in ruins on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016.

Metcalfe and approximately nine other neighbours were hand-delivered “ do not drink” advisories Monday afternoon by the Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, which advised them not to consume or drink their water. The health unit was alerted by Metcalfe and another neighbour about potential water quality issues.

Metcalfe said she noticed something was off with her water after she made coffee with it Monday morning.

“It smells like opening a bottle of cleaner,” she said. “It’s really unreal.”

After Metcalfe said she consumed two cups of the coffee made from her well water, she said her throat and tongue burned and left them tingly and sore for about 24 hours.

“It felt like waking up from surgery,” she said.

Those symptoms made Metcalfe concerned enough that she went to the hospital on Tuesday after advice from the health unit and the province’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change.

None of her other family members ingested the water.

Metcalfe said ministry representatives advised her that she shouldn’t drink, consume or bathe in the water after they came to her home and were shown a sample of her water.

The ministry was in the area on Monday evening and Tuesday collecting water samples from the affected homes. Water testing will assess whether or not the water is contaminated.

Metcalfe said with how her water is right now she believes the tests will surely come back positive for some type of contamination stemming from the fire.

Before the fire, Metcalfe said her family had beautiful water – now, she said, not so much.

“It’s pretty scary,” she said.

Metcalfe said she fears the entire aquifer has been impacted.

Joan Mays, manager of community health protection at the health unit, told the Record News Wednesday, Nov. 9, that the unit was concerned that if fire fighting foams used to fight the flea market fire could cause contamination to the surrounding ground water.

Greg Saunders, the fire chief of the Drummond/North Elmsley Tay Valley Fire Rescue, confirmed on Thursday morning that fire foam was used to fight the flea market fire on Sunday, but when compared with the amount of water used to tame the blaze – some 757,082 litres – the usage of foam was minimal and necessary.

Saunders said the most likely reason for water contamination if found by the ministry would stem from the contents of the razed flea market.

Metcalfe’s two sons, aged six and nine, are severely autistic and the impact of not being able to drink, consume or bathe in their water has taken a tremendous toll.

Since Monday, the family has relied on bottled water as well as shower and laundry facilities at a local respite centre, a resource that supports her family.

Metcalfe herself has fibromyalgia and said she hasn’t been able to have her warm baths, which helps alleviate her pain.

According to Metcalfe, other residents have continued to bathe in the water and even wash their vegetables.

Metcalfe said she takes these water issues seriously and only uses it to flush the toilet.

The ministry has told the family to keep all their receipts from any bottled water purchases, but Metcalfe said for a family with one income, with severely handicapped children, going out of pocket for bottled water is not sustainable.

She said the ministry should step up to deliver water to the families affected by potential contamination.

Metcalfe said the ministry has labelled their water testing a “high priority,” and she should know the results next week.

“I really hope it’s resolved soon,” she said. “But I’m really not that optimistic.”

Metcalfe said as winter approaches she fears if the ministry needs to fix their wells, the frost could limit their window of opportunity and worries it could be weeks or months before the family is able to use their water again. She and her husband are stressed, Metcalfe said. If they’re unable to use their water the family may lose their home – a place they have saved for ten years to purchase.

And if they have to leave, Metcalfe said they’d likely lose the value of their home because no one will want to buy it if the water is contaminated.

Residents have been told to hang tight until the results of the ministry’s water tests are known – further action will be addressed at that time.

Cindy Halcrow, the clerk administrator for the Township of Drummond/North Elmsley, said the municipality wouldn’t be involved going forward since the water impacted comes from private wells, not municipal water.

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change has not yet replied for comment.