The Richmond neighbourhood has expressed worries about unconventional gas drilling and the potential for nearby fracking activities to contaminate water supplies, particularly groundwater resources.
The Department of Water and Sanitation says it has taken note of these concerns.
The issues came up at open forums on the unconventional gas regulations hosted at Richmond Town Hall in the Northern Cape.
The department, residents of the Richmond community, and farmers from the Karoo region participated in the interaction, which had as its goal educating the impacted people about the restrictions. Richmond is located in the dry Karoo region.
The mission of creating regulations to control hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which is the practise of drilling underground to extract gas by the gas industry, was given to the Department of Water and Sanitation.
Although the operations were reported in Parliament, it was later determined that the fracking chemicals employed had a detrimental effect on the environment.
Sputnik Ratau, a department spokesperson, explained that regulations governing the activities of fracking were devised because the department’s main duty is to protect, manage, control, and develop water resources.
“These operations may contaminate water resources, particularly groundwater, hence the regulations will restrict them.
The National Water Act required the department to create these regulations.
Richmond is a semi-rural community where farming is the primary source of income.
There are a number of boreholes that the municipality and farmers both dug, according to Ratau.
The regulations governing unconventional gas activities were laid forth during the engagements in Richmond, and community members provided insightful comments on the topic.
Because so many boreholes have already been dug, locals are worried that there won’t be enough room for the drilling of unconventional gas.
Jozua Theron, a local farmer in Richmond who lives in a neighbourhood of around 50 households, expressed alarm about the excessive water usage during the drilling and cautioned that fracking requires a lot of water.
“To carry out the gas drilling activities, it may need as many as 24 Olympic-size swimming pools, which will only make the already difficult water supply issues in this area worse.
Fracking would not only cause environmental and socioeconomic issues; it will also make Richmond’s water supply more problematic, according to Theron.