LUSAKA, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's environmental regulator has identified seven mining firms on the Copperbelt Province with excess emissions above prescribed pollution control limits, a senior government official said on Friday.
Minister of Water Development, Sanitation and Environmental Protection Lloyd Kaziya said the Zambia Environmental Management Authority (ZEMA) has since issued compliance orders to the concerned mining firms to immediately institute measures to comply with the national emission standards.
He said failure to comply with the set standards will attract stringent measures, including complete shutdown of polluting companies and litigation.
In a ministerial statement presented in parliament on water sources pollution in Zambia as a result of mining activities, the minister said that the environmental regulator conducted several investigations into pollution of water bodies which established serious pollution levels by mining firms in water bodies.
The regulator, he said, will take punitive measures not only on mining firms but other companies that played a role in polluting water bodies in the country.
According to him, the environmental regulator, in collaboration with other stakeholders undertook studies in selected parts of the country on industrial activities to assess associated impacts on the environment.
"Regrettably, the results from the studies have shown that there has been pollution and environmental change in some parts of the country's water resources which are highly linked to industrialization. Water pollution continues to be an environmental problem and the mining sector has continued to be a major source of pollution," he said.
