{"id":3298,"date":"2021-10-11T14:09:21","date_gmt":"2021-10-11T14:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining"},"modified":"2021-10-11T14:23:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T14:23:20","slug":"schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining","title":{"rendered":"Schlettwein denounces aquifer mining"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Namibia<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>MINISTER of agriculture, water and land reform Calle Schlettwein says the government should no longer allow mining activities to be conducted in areas that are dependent on groundwater resources.<\/b><\/p>\n

At the launch of the third edition of Namibia’s hydrogeological map in Windhoek on Friday, Schlettwein said the government should equally hasten to stop potentially harmful exploration and other mining activities currently taking place in areas which have been declared water reserves. This is to prevent the pollution of groundwater reserves, rendering them unfit for human consumption.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would be foolish to allow competing commercial activities to threaten these groundwater reserves. I believe mining in an aquifer must in any event be carefully considered and probably prohibited upfront \u2013 especially if the minerals are available in alternative localities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the idea to declare the whole country as a water reserve is fine, but we must be more specific. There are places where water reserves are less abundant and available . . . in those areas, we must have a different set of rules when it comes to usage or competing activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is due to the fact that Namibia uses about 60% of its groundwater resources. \u201cAs a semi-arid country that is highly vulnerable to climate change and variability, evidence-based sustainable management of groundwater resources is a necessary condition as the country implements its socio-economic development agenda across generations,\u201d Schlettwein said.<\/p>\n

He made reference to uranium exploration activities in the Stampriet area, and other activities in the Kalahari Desert. Such activities, Schlettwein said, pose significant risks to areas which are already drought stricken.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is that mining and leaching are taking place within the aquifer, and the polluted water is disposed of back into the aquifer. This aquifer is far too valuable for a community that lives in the Kalahari. We cannot take the risk of destroying it or making it less valuable in that community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Namibia’s hydrogeological map was first published in 2001, and for the second time in 2011. The updated map and handbook launched on Friday contain reliable and updated information about the occurrence, quality, utilisation and vulnerability of groundwater resources in the country.<\/p>\n

Namibia, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, is part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Groundwater-Management Institute.<\/p>\n

Through this institute, Schlettwein said, Namibia accessed a grant of more than N$2 million, or US$150 00, from a funding commitment of more than US$10 million provided to SADC countries by the World Bank in 2016.<\/p>\n

This money is aimed at funding activities to improve the region’s hydrogeological data, \u201cwhich is immensely important for planning and managing groundwater resources sustainably\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the minister, the grant focused on one subcomponent of the project, which included activities such as the improvement of infrastructure for groundwater utilisation, management, and protection, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. MINISTER of agriculture, water and land reform Calle Schlettwein says the government should no longer allow mining activities to be conducted in areas that are dependent on groundwater resources. At the launch of the third edition of Namibia’s hydrogeological map in Windhoek on Friday, Schlettwein said the government should equally hasten to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":3297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,8,16],"tags":[234,236,1559,233,1336],"class_list":["post-3298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-aquifer-mining","tag-namibia","tag-schlettwein"],"yoast_head":"\nSchlettwein denounces aquifer mining - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MINISTER of agriculture, water and land reform Calle Schlettwein says the government should no longer allow mining ac ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Schlettwein denounces aquifer mining\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MINISTER of agriculture, water and land reform Calle Schlettwein says the government should no longer allow mining ac ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-11T14:09:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-11T14:23:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2021\/10\/img-616448bdc2e12.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"551\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Schlettwein denounces aquifer mining\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-11T14:09:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-11T14:23:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining\"},\"wordCount\":474,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2021\/10\/img-616448bdc2e12.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"aquifer mining\",\"namibia\",\"Schlettwein\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/schlettwein-denounces-aquifer-mining\",\"name\":\"Schlettwein denounces aquifer mining - 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