REUTERS

An rig prepares to drill.

Access to clean, fresh water is under threat in South Africa and fracking for gas will only add to this, environmental campaigner Lewis Pugh said on Friday.

Addressing the Cape Town Press Club, he said most of the rivers in the country were already “highly” polluted and that there were people “all across South Africa” who did not have access to clean water.

He said fracking would see a “cocktail” of chemicals being pumped into the ground increasing the problem further.

“Our water is our most precious resource. We need to protect it. Yet in South Africa we have treated water with utter contempt... as if it's an unlimited source.

“Fracking is not sustainable. We can survive without gas, but we cannot live without water.”

Fracking involves pumping a high pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals into the shale bed to break apart underground shale rock and extract the gas.

Proposals have been made by Shell, Falcon Oil and Bundu Oil and Gas to explore shale gas deposits in the Karoo.

But Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu has placed a freeze on applications for rights to explore for shale gas until her department has formulated a policy on it.

This after pressure from environmentalists, farmers, scientists and citizens.

Many argued that fracking would impact negatively on groundwater and surface water resources in the Karoo.

This week French legislators voted to ban fracking and while a study published in the US found no sign that fracking chemicals were polluting the water supply, it found evidence that gas was leaking from shale wells into drinking water.

Pugh said the process of fracking was controversial around the world.

“There's a reason why it's being rejected in America. There's a reason why the French government put a bill to the lower house of Parliament rejecting it.”

He said the freeze on applications was a major victory and he urged the media to investigate the issue further.

He said fracking would be detrimental to the environment and future generations living in the Karoo.

“Why haven't we interviewed the CEOs of these companies. We want to know what cocktail of chemicals are they going to be pumping into the ground? Investigations will unearth the dirty truth... These companies won't create employment. It will only be temporary... What will happen to the generations who will be living without proper, clean water?”

He also questioned why President Jacob Zuma had not yet spoken about his position on the matter.

“Water and fracking is the most important issue facing this country. If we don't solve this problem, we are going to end up with a very major problem.

“I find it difficult to understand why President Zuma and the ministers are allowing this... If we carry on this way, we are going to have conflict.”

Pugh said Shell had a “shocking” record in Africa.

He referred journalists to a speech he made last month.

“... Just look at your Shell operations in Nigeria. You have spilt more than 9 million barrels of crude oil into the Niger Delta. That’s twice the amount of oil that BP spilt into the Gulf of Mexico. You were found guilty of bribing Nigerian officials - and to make the case go away in America you paid an admission of guilt fine of US48 million.”

He said these companies should not be trusted when they say that fracking in the Karoo would not damage the environment or that it would not contaminate the water.

He said the era of fossil fuels was over and that there was nothing stopping companies from coming into South Africa to invest in renewables instead.

He warned that fracking could become a civil rights issue, saying that the matter could go to the Constitutional Court. - Sapa