Gerhardminnebron
Gerhardminnebron is a natural
Sammy Marks, the pioneer industrialist of the Transvaal, bought the farm in the 1890s and constructed an irrigation canal to supply water for his crops. The contractor who built the canal was Pieter Bezuidenhout, who had in 1880 refused to hand over his wagon in lieu of unpaid taxes levied by the British authorities - this action led to the First Boer War.[3]
Environmental issues
The strong discharge of groundwater from the spring has created an area of peatland or karst fen. The vast majority of peat is located in the high-rainfall regions of the northern hemisphere and its occurrence in South Africa is rare. The spring is fed by water issuing from a system of interlinked dolomitic aquifers or compartments. Four of the nine compartments which feed the Wonderfonteinspruit are affected by deep level gold mining. Large-scale pumping of water has led to a lowering of the groundwater table by up to 1000 metres, the trapping of uranium-bearing tailings in caves and sinkholes, the discharge of pollutants into the Wonderfonteinspruit, and seepage from tailings into the aquifer beneath.[4]
External links
References
- ^ "Water | Free Full-Text | Peatlands as Filters for Polluted Mine Water?—A Case Study from an Uranium-Contaminated Karst System in South Africa—Part I: Hydrogeological Setting and U Fluxes". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
- ^ Sandenbergh Bekker, Thessa (2010). The more effective management of the Gerhard Minnebron as important resource of potable water for Potchefstroom / Thessa Sandenbergh Bekker. nwu.ac.za (Thesis).
- ^ http://www.ruralexploration.co.za/Gerhard%20Minnebron.html
- ^ http://www.imwa.info/docs/imwa_2009/IMWA2009_Winde.pdf [bare URL PDF]