South Africa is facing an impending water crisis. Many parts of the country are facing water shortages and while other areas, such as Gauteng and Mpumalanga, may have had strong rains in recent months, the "Acid Mine Drainage" (AMD) problem is causing water basins in these areas to overflow with polluted and even toxic water from historical mining operations. According to some industry estimates, around 60 million litres of polluted AMD water will pour out into Johannesburg by 2011 if nothing is done to counter the problem.

"Water management has become a national strategic issue," says Roger Jardine, CEO of The Aveng Group, the largest infrastructure development company listed on the JSE. "Though the severity of the problem cannot be underestimated, there are solutions that can be implemented to help mitigate this impending crisis," he says, adding that Aveng's water management solutions, which were locally developed by its subsidiary, water treatment company Keyplan, are already effectively being used in Southern Africa.

BHP Billiton / Anglo Coal's eMalahleni plant near Witbank, for instance, has effectively been using Aveng's solutions since September 2007 to create potable water from AMD. In the heart of the Namib Desert, Aveng is in the process of delivering a state-of-the-art desalination plant for French mining and energy giant Areva.

"While we are not saying that we have the total solution to the impending water crisis, what we are saying is that there are sustainable and effective technologies, that are already proven, that could be used to mitigate the problem," says Jardine.

Aveng's solution (termed the HiPRO process) uses reverse osmosis to reverse the damage done to the water through AMD. The end product is potable (drinking) water that meets South African National Standard (SANS) Class 1, currently the highest drinking water specification in South Africa. The process has a water recovery rate of in excess of 99.7%, with the eMalahleni reclamation plant built at Anglo Coal producing 25,000 metres3 of high quality drinking water daily.

Supportive of the AMD solution, Keyplan has also developed a desalination solution that can be used to provide water to major towns and cities near South African coastlines. This comes at a time when cities like Port Elizabeth and much of the Garden Route are struggling with water shortages. The plant built for Areva in Namibia has the capacity to desalinate and deliver 20 million metres3 of water per annum to the Trekkopje mine using an overland pipeline.

"The seawater along the Namibian coast is nutrient rich, with high plankton levels. Despite such difficulties, we have been able to provide high quality water solutions. This is a first in Southern Africa and will go a long way to providing drinking water to the desert region of Namibia. Given the expected future demand of 45 million metres3 of water a year, we have ensured that the Trekkopje plant's intake system has a capacity to extract 360,000 metres3 of water daily," concludes Jardine.