Minister for Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane says short-term acid mine drainage interventions the government has started in the past five years have yielded results. Speaking at an acid mine drainage plant in Germiston on Wednesday she said South Africans have benefited from the government's projects in four ways:1) The prevention of an environmental catastrophe:"If we had not intervened in the way we did‚ the flow of acid mine drainage into the larger environment‚ including the natural river system would have caused widespread environmental pollution."2) The protection of underground water resources:"Through our ongoing programme...we have managed to protect valuable groundwater from being contaminated."3) Contributions to socio-economic development:"Project areas have witnessed significant small enterprise development‚ preferential procurement and skills development...as well as job creation‚ reaching about 1‚000 jobs at the peak of construction of the treatment plants."4) Building the state's capacity to deal with acid mine drainage:"Government has made a positive move in establishing the requisite knowledge node" to deal with acid mine drainage.In the past five years three acid mine drainage plants have been constructed in Krugersdorp‚ Germiston and Springs.Mokonyane said that these plants will be considered part of the new long-term acid mine drainage solution launched on Wednesday.The new project has an estimated cost of R10 billion to R12 billion and will be funded by water users and the mining sector...