The groundwater resources in Beaufort West have been contaminated with petrol after fuel started leaking from storage tanks at petrol stations in the town and various oil companies including BP, Shell, Total and Chevron have appointed consultants – through the South African Petroleum Industry Association – to help them sort out the problems.
Residents who find that their water is contaminated have been advised not to use the water until small filtration tanks are installed that will filter out the petrol. It is believed that the petrol leaked into the groundwater years ago and has remained in the water since then.
According to local resident and retired petrol station manager Charlie Brittnell, people in the town are facing a serious problem as they rely on borehole water for the daily usage. He says that he watched as people tapped borehole water into a small dam on the surface of the home and saw a thick film of petrol develop on top of it.
Anton Moldan, environmental adviser at the Petrol Industry Association, says that tests were being conducted to determine the exact cause of the pollution but said that initial indications are that petrol from three filling stations appear to have leaked into the water resources.
He says the association has appointed Geo Pollution Technologies to test and monitor the water resources in the town and to assist residents who are using contaminated water from their boreholes by installing filtration equipment that will make the water safe to drink.
Moldan says that evidence of contamination in the groundwater was first found in the early 1990s, but warned that because of the geological structure of the aquifers it was not easy to remove petrol from the water.
Moldan says that tests on some boreholes showed that the water contained dissolved petroleum components while others actually had petrol floating on top of the water.
The foliage in many gardens around Beaufort West has died because of petrol contamination in the water.
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Your latest article on contaminated water in B/west scares us all. And that's just from three filling stations?
Stop the fracking companies immediately or does some tenderpreneur want to get rich overnight? - Nick