The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) says it continues to enforce quarterly emissions assessments at the Hwange Thermal Power Station to guarantee compliance with emissions discharge limitations.
This is meant to control activities that cause air pollution and protect public health and the environment, and to set emission standards for various pollutants and activities, including power generation, as this aligns with the SI72 of 2009, also known as the Environment Management (Atmospheric Pollution Control) Regulations, 2009 and will also push ZPC to upgrade pollution control equipment and adopt cleaner technologies.
EMA Communications Officer Joyce Chapungu told the Environment that, “the Agency continues to enforce the quarterly emissions assessment as provided for in the SI72 of 2009; Environmental Regulation (Air quality control) to ensure compliance with the emissions discharge limits.”
Enforcing quarterly emissions assessments at the Hwange Thermal Power Station is not just a regulatory requirement, but a critical measure for safeguarding the environment, public health, the economy, and social justice and also ensuring responsible operation and minimizing its environmental impact, the station can contribute to a more sustainable and equitable future for Zimbabwe.
According to a 2017 research by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), approximately 2,200 people died in South Africa each year as a result of air pollution, the
majority of which are caused by SO2 emissions from coal-fired power stations such as Eskom’s.
More current modelling by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) depicts a bleaker scenario. Eskom’s current retirement timeline and emission control plans predict 79,500 air pollution related deaths from its power facilities between 2025 and their end of life.
Last year, residents of Hwage’s Ingagula Suburb complained that their living circumstances were deteriorating due to health risks posed by ongoing construction on Zimbabwe Power Company’s Hwange Power Station Units 7 and 8 and the Deka Pipeline Upgrade projects.
Earlier this year, Hwange residents, through the Greater Hwange Residents Trust (GWRT), petitioned Parliament about some local companies that emit smoke from their coal-fired power plants, polluting the environment and water bodies. Concerns have been raised about the level of air and water pollution, as well as the destruction of major roads in the coal mining town.
The worst-affected roads include Sinamatela-Makomo Resources, Zambezi Gas-Zimbabwe Power
Company (ZPC) Hwange Power Station, and Ingagula Suburb-Deka, which also connects Hwange town and Msuna in Zambezi.
Apart from doing quarterly emissions, EMA said that ZPC has relocated Ingagula residents.
“One of the EISA conditions for the Hwange expansion project was the relocation of the
nearest downwind community of Ingagula, and ZPC has since relocated the most valuable part of Ingagula.”
