Platinum mnining major Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has embarked on an initiative to fund solutions to some of the water challenges in the communities surrounding its Mogalakwena openpit mine, in Limpopo.
The company, which last week announced a new sustainability strategy, will deliver 3.5-million litres of water a day to communities in the Greater Mapela region.
Amplats is currently trucking water to some of the 42 villages in the vicinity of Mogalakwena.
Amplats corporate affairs executive head Seara Mkhabela said last week that the sustainability strategy highlighted the importance of keeping people and the environment safe, and using collaborative regional development to provide sustainable benefits for host communities.
The strategy includes a commitment to reducing freshwater abstraction by 50% in water-scarce regions, such as Limpopo.
Amplats, together with the Mapela task team as a community stakeholder, identified the opportunity for the company to support the community in the provision of water, an initiative that the Mogalakwena municipality has endorsed.
Amplats undertook to fund the Hall Core Water Mapela (HCWM) initiative to support the Mapela traditional authority in developing a sustainable plan for the region. The HCWM initiative will be responsible for increasing the water supply capacity through drilling, equipping and maintaining of boreholes for ten years.
Further, the initiative will drive the implementation and maintenance of the project, while Amplats, as a funder, will pay for the potable water supplied to the community.
The Mapela water initiative also takes place amid National Water Week, which is a government-led initiative aimed at emphasising the value of water and of the need for sustainable management of this scarce resource.