Unstable Terrain

Carletonville, Merafong Municipality

The town of Carletonville, located in western Gauteng province, is located on a dolomite terrain, which when dewatered becomes unstable and can lead to sinkholes. This is the case in the area to the west of the town, between Carletongville and Westonaria, where a 1 meter pipeline was created starting from the Donaldson Dam and extending to Carletonville, which collects the water for mining purposes. By dewatering this area, this area has become dangerous to build on. Additionally sinkholes have started appearing in the urban areas due to the infiltration of water into the ground from pipe leaks. Because of this condition, towns such as Banks and Khutsong have been abandoned and are being relocated elsewhere. Moreover, multiple rivers communicate from Johannesburg center to Carletonville but these arrive polluted due to mining activity and are contaminated further in areas such as the Khutsong Township. To the South of Carletonville, many tributary rivers start, also contaminated from the extensive mine activity.