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The eastern Highveld is fertile and well watered. It is the source of several major rivers – including the Olifants, the Komati, the Usutu and the Vaal – and a critical food producing region. Over a century of mining and burning coal has damaged large parts of the Highveld. The hydrological functions are interrupted by underground and open cast coal mining and open cast mining simply destroys the land. The land is also coated in coal dust from blasting and acid deposition from combustion emissions. Groundwater and rivers are contaminated by acid mine drainage to the point that whole catchments are turning into wastelands. This is compounded by heavily polluted industrial effluent and municipal sewage leaks.
