water&sanitation africa sep/oct 2014

Water and Sanitation Services South Africa (Pty) Ltd (WSSA) is a specialised provider of sustainable water services in Southern Africa

Water & Sanitation Services SA.indd 1 2014/03/26 11:52:53 AM

The official magazine of the Water Institute of Southern Africa

Water & SanitationAfricaComplete water resource and wastewater management

Umgeni Water meets the South African National Standards 241 for drinking water quality and received nine Blue Drop awards in 2012. Cyril Gamede, chief executive, Umgeni Water P11

JulySeptember/October 2014 • ISSN 1990-8857 • Cover price R50.00 • Vol 9 No. 5

MEDIA

Promoting professional excellence in the water sector

IN THE HOT SEAT

The name that really holds water

Ingula pump station nears completion

PROJECT

WASTEWATERPenz Street: meaningful

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Water & SanitationAfricaComplete water resource and wastewater management

Umgeni Water meets the South African National Standards 241 for drinking water quality and received nine Blue Drop awards in 2012. Cyril Gamede, chief executive, Umgeni Water P11

JulySeptember/October 2014 • ISSN 1990-8857 • Cover price R50.00 • Vol 9 No. 5

MEDIA

Promoting professional excellence in the water sector

IN THE HOT SEAT

The name that really holds water

Ingula pump station nears completion

PROJECT

WASTEWATERPenz Street: meaningful


ABECO TANKS

ON THE COVER

Rand Water looks to develop

African water professionals p4

Volume 9. No.5

REGULARS

Editor’s comment 3Africa round-up 15Industry news 17Product news 60Event 63

COVER STORY

Servicing the industry for more than 30 years 4

WISA

President’s comment 6YWP – All it takes is one person to motivate a community 7

NEWS

Water and Sanitation Summit 8

HOT SEAT

Umgeni celebrates 40 years 11

OPINION

Megadams and Africa: Economically unviable? 12

BLUE DROP

Early Days of SA Drinking Water Regulation 19

PROJECT FOCUS

Progress at Ingula 25Water supply link established 27

TECHNICAL PAPER

Effectiveness of chlorine as a disinfectant 28

LABORATORY

Sound practices underpin ERWAT 34

PIPES PUMPS AND VALVES

Dewatering flooded mine tunnels in South Africa 37Xonxa Dam pipeline on track 40Industry experience underpins new player 41Over four decades of exceptional quality products and service 43

Megadams and Africa: economically viable

CONTENTS

PANEL DISCUSSION

Fiberpipe 45Group Five Pipes 47Rare Group 49Rocla 50

PROFILE

Growth through excellence 53

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE

Supply assured with Nooitgedacht Water Treatment Works 54Meaningful infrastructure investment 58

12

Progress at Ingula25

Dewatering flooded mine tunnels in South Africa37

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014 1

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EDITOR’S COMMENTPublisher Elizabeth Shorten Editor Maryke FouldsHead of design Frédérick DantonSenior designer Hayley MendelowDesigner Kirsty GallowayChief sub-editor Tristan SnijdersSub-editor Beatrix Knopjes Contributors Jo Burgess, S Harichunder, S Mintz, P Moshoane, J Mosomboka, A Netshidaulu, S Nienaber and M TitusMarketing manager Hestelle RobinsonDigital manager Esther LouwClient services & production manager Antois-Leigh BotmaProduction coordinator Jacqueline ModiseDistribution manager Nomsa MasinaDistribution coordinator Asha PursothamFinancial manager Andrew LobbanAdministration Tonya HebentonPrinters United Litho Johannesburg +27 (0)11 402 0571Advertising sales Avé Delport Tel: +27 (0)11 467 6224 • Cell: +27 (0)83 302 1342 Fax: 086 502 1216 • Email: [email protected]

MEDIA Physical address: No 4, 5th Avenue Rivonia 2056Postal address: PO Box 92026, Norwood 2117,South AfricaTel: +27 (0)11 233 2600Fax: +27 (0)11 234 7274/5Email: [email protected]

ISSN: 1990 - 8857Annual subscription: R300 (SA rate)Email: [email protected] 2014. All rights reserved.All articles in Water&Sanitation Africa are copyright protected and may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without the prior written permission of the publishers. The views of contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the Water Institute of Southern Africa or the publishers.

WISA mission statementThe Water Institute of Southern Africa provides a forum for exchange of information and views to improve water resource management in Southern Africa.

Endorsed by

WISA CONTACTS:HEAD OFFICETel: +27 (0)11 805 3537 Fax: +27 (0)11 315 1258Physical address: 1st Floor, Building 5, Constantia Park, 546 16th Road, Randjiespark Ext 7, Midrand

BRANCHESEastern CapeChairman: Hennie GreeffTel: +27(0)41 453 3102Secretary/Treasurer: Chris Dickson Tel: +27(0)41 507 8200

Free StateChairperson: D.R. TlhomelangTel: +27(0)51 403 0800Secretary/ Treasurer: Riana WesselsTel: +27(0)56-515-0375

KwaZulu-NatalChairman: Chris Fennemore Tel: +27 (0)31 311 8734Secretary/ Treasurer: Stephanie WalshTel: +27 (0)31 302-4077

Western CapeChairman: Gareth McConkeyTel: +27(0) 21 712 4260Secretary/ Treasurer: Eleonore BondesioTel: +27(0)21 872 0322

www.ewisa.co.za

RESEARCH conducted by Julian Rademeyer and published in Africa Check Report poses the question, if, in real terms, more

than 94% of South Africans really have access to safe drinking water. This follows on statements made by the previous Minister of Water and Sanitation, Edna Molewa, who claimed that 94.7% of the population had “access to clean and safe drinking water”. It follows claims made in June 2011, by her predecessor, Bulelwa Sonjica, who told the National Council of Provinces that “when the government took office in 1994, a mere 62% of households had access to clean drinking water. Today it is an average of 93%.”

Mava Scott, the previous head of communi-cations for the Department of Water Affairs, has communicated that the department’s figures show that 96.4% of households cur-rently have “access to piped water”. The issue of water quality is a “separate issue”, he said.

More detailed figures are contained in a 2011 general household survey published by StatsSA. That report stated that 89.5% of South African households had access to piped water. Breaking that number down, 43.3% had piped water in their homes, 28.6% had access to water in their yards, 2.7% had the use of a neighbour’s tap and 14.9% had to make use of communal taps. This suggests the number of those with access to “piped water” is lower than that claimed.

Access to a tap does not mean access to waterThere is another issue besides the number of households with access to “piped water”. According to Scott, the Department of Water Affairs works on the assumption that if

The real state of the water industry

Water and Sanitation Services South Africa (Pty) Ltd (WSSA) is a

specialised provider of sustainable water services in Southern Africa

Water & Sanitation Services SA.indd 1

2014/03/26 11:52:53 AM


Water & SanitationAfrica

Complete water resource and wastewater management

Umgeni Water meets the South African National Standards 241

for drinking water quality and received nine Blue Drop awards

in 2012. Cyril Gamede, chief executive, Umgeni Water P11

July

September/October 2014 • ISSN 1990-8857 • Cover price R50.00 • Vol 9 No. 5

MEDIA

Promoting professional excellence in

the water sector

IN THE HOT SEAT

The name that really

holds water

Ingula pump station

nears completion

PROJECT

WASTEWATER

Penz Street: meaningful


ABECO TANKS Cover opportunityIn each issue, Water&Sanitation Africa offers companies the opportunity to get to the front of the line by placing a company, product or service on the front cover of the magazine. Buying this position will afford the advertiser the cover story and maximum exposure. For more information on cover bookings contact Avé Delport on +27 (0)83 302 1342 or email [email protected]

people have access to a tap, they have access to water. “When we talk about piped water, we are normally referring to infrastructure and people have access to water coming out of that infrastructure.”

However, Oliver Ive, a water and sanitation engineer and MD of Amanz abantu Services, a private company involved in rural water supply and sanitation projects, says, “The fact that someone has a tap doesn’t mean they have clean water or access to piped water.

“If you put a pump or a service in a village, is it still working in five years’ time? Government will say that they have spent the money on infrastructure and that people have access, but if you go out and physically check if those taps are delivering water, and quality water, the answer is often no.”

What about water quality?Ive clarifies, “The reality is that everyone in South Africa has access to water because they are alive. The question is, do they have access to water that is going to be good for health?”

That is a far more difficult question to answer. One of the primary benchmarks of water quality in South Africa is the annual Blue Drop report released by the Department of Water Affairs. It focuses not only on water quality but also on operational aspects of wa-ter service providers, including their risk and asset management and water safety plans.

As a pure barometer of water quality, the re-port is problematic. The department is careful to emphasise, “A town without Blue Drop cer-tification does not automatically mean that its water is unsafe for human consumption.”

The debate continues.

Maryke Foulds

Controversy seems to follow recent statements made by government officials about the real state of water delivery in South Africa.

3 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014

COVER STORY

ESTABLISHED IN 1983, founder, now CEO, Mannie Ramos identified a need for water supply to communi-

ties with limited resources and set about to satisfy this need without compromising hygiene, safety or quality. Over 30 years later ABECO Tanks continues to deliver on this promise, having successfully installed over 20 000 tanks across 32 countries. They are also the only manufacturer of pressed-steel tanks that are SABS approved and ISO registered.

One of their many success stories includes the erection of the first 5 million litre modular tank in

Africa as well as raised

Servicing the industry for more than 30 years

500 m3 water tanks on 25 m stands erected on the north-east coast of Central America and designed to withstand hurricanes.

“We do not rest on our laurels and staying ahead of the pack has certainly not been easy,” says Ramos. “Embracing modern technology, on-going product evaluation and con-tinued research and development has ensured that we have remained the leading innovators in our field.”

ABECO Tanks has recently mod-ernised its factory and invested in the latest equipment, allowing them to adapt to the demand in the industry.

“We also only source our steel lo-cally and buy directly from the mills.

The quality of our steel is still of the best in the world,” he adds.

They are also undergoing an ex-tensive expansion of their current head office location and hope to launch and invite their loyal custom-ers to its opening early next year.

ABECO offers full design manu-facture and installation services for ground-level, elevated and circular galvanised water tanks and has a division that focuses purely on special custom tanks. They have also paid particular attention to the design of all types of tanks to ensure they are easy to install and transport, especially to remote locations where resources are limited. All compo-nents are also lightweight and easy to handle.

ABECO Tanks is no stranger to the water storage tank industry and is a name that has stood its ground for over 30 years.



COVER STORY

Servicing the industry for more than 30 years

Embracing modern technology, ongoing product evaluation and continued research and development has ensured that we have remained the leading innovators in our field

Precision rolled tapered panel tanks are now offered by Abeco Tanks

systems. Their storage products and services are recognised as the best offered in the industry.

The RTP bolt tank design is every bit as stringent as welded tank construc-tion. Once assembled in the field, each bolt seam maintains an exact calculated value as reviewed through four types of analysis and edge tear-out. In contrast to field-weld construction, where a single analysis

New product offering In keeping with its commitment to deliver uncompromised storage solutions, ABECO has been awarded the exclusive rights to represent Tank Connections and provide precision RTP (rolled tapered panel) tanks to the African market. Tank Connections is an industry leader of custom-designed bulk storage tanks and integrated storage

(joint efficiency) is reviewed and is subject to uncontrolled field condi-tions, bolted sectional seam analysis is finite and controlled.

www.abecotanks.co.za+27 (0)11 616 7999


PRESIDENT ’S COMMENT

THE STRENGTH and poten-tial of WISA lie in the pro-fessional and geographic di-versity of its members, with

their knowledge and eagerness to collaborate and demonstrate the real value of WISA. WISA is represented in 216 different companies and boasts almost 3 000 individual members,

across many disciplines of science, engineering and the humanities, and managers and leaders among those professions, as well as the crucial people work-ing hard in the engine room of the industry.

If you are reading this magazine, then you may

have either already

What’s in it for me?WISA is the only professional body solely dedicated to supporting the careers of people working in the Southern African water sector. It is a regional reference point for water professionals.

become a WISA member, or the institute already interests you. What interests me is finding out what’s in WISA membership for you?

By now you will have received a survey, asking you for your opinions about how WISA performs for you, what the level of service you’ve experienced is like and the value of membership. But the last question is the $64 million dollar question: what additional products and services would you like WISA to offer you as a member? To a greater or lesser extent, WISA already:• Supports thousands of members

region-wide. Do we provide the kind of support you want and need? If not, then tell us what would work better for you.

• Provides training and professional development opportunities. Are there gaps? Would you like to have training you currently cannot access? Or, are you able to provide training and would love to volun-teer or offer your services, but don’t know who to approach?

• Provides a forum for debate through conferences, events and publications. What would

benefit you as a member, over and above the biennial conference and exhibition? Do your branch and di-vision(s) provide local, small events? Could you join the branch and/or division(s) most relevant to you and help provide small, focused events? Have you ever used a WISA publica-tion, or what would WISA publica-tions look like in an ideal world?

• Works with government, interna-tional organisations, public enti-ties and private companies for a holistic approach to environmental issues. Does WISA work with every-one you think it ought? What about NGOs, creative organisations and faith groups? Other professional bodies, like CESA or SAICE? Where are the friends we have not yet met?

• Develops partnerships with like-minded organisations across the world. Tell us what you think about the nature of these partner-ships, or even whether they have had any impact on you.

• Promotes excellence in water and environmental management through an awards portfolio. The vast majority of WISA awards are conferred at the biennial confer-ences. Are there too few – are signal achievements going unrewarded in our community? Or, are there too many; do you feel the awards have lost prestige? Would you do things differently, and if so, how?

But when you contemplate that $64 million question, ponder it carefully. What else can WISA do for its members, and what can they do for WISA? Should WISA supply independent advice to governments, academics, the media and the general public, for example? Should WISA have direct input into policy developments? What else? If WISA could and should [insert your hot idea here], how can you step up and use your membership to help ensure that [your hot idea] happens?

Jo BurgessPresident – WISA

BELOW Jo Burgess, president of WISABOTTOM Katse Dam


Y WP

THE KWAZULU-NATAL chap-ter of the South African Young Water Professionals (YWP-ZA) immersed themselves in a

wealth of exciting activities for the 2014 year. The highlight of which was attending the eThekwini Student & Water Sanitation Conference and facilitating at the Water Security Colloquium hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

Passion, motivation and spirit – the dominating features from the 2014 eThekwini’s Water Sanitation Student ConferenceeThekwini hosted their bi-annual Water and Sanitation Student Conference at the Durban City Hall on 20 March during National Water Week this year. Suvritha Ramphal, chairper-son of the KZN YWP-ZA, and Franclyn Samuels, vice-chairperson, were in-vited to be part of eThekwini’s Water & Sanitation Student Conference as judges for the schools’ debating competition. Participating schools were tasked with presenting their stance on water scarcity and water conservation pertaining to the greater eThekwini area. The calibre of youth attending this year’s event surpassed the judges’ expectations, making it one of the most difficult decisions to be made for the event. The passion, motivation and spirit of these young, impressionable minds shone through the day and made it a success. Former YWP-ZA chairperson Dr Inga Jacobs also gave an interactive, motivating presentation to the students, encour-aging them to pursue studies and careers in the water sector.

YWP-ZA facilitates discussion at Water Security Colloquium The vice-chairperson of the YWP–ZA, Nora Hanke, facilitated a discussion on ‘Water Governance and Water Security – Challenges and Advances’

at a two-day interdisciplinary collo-quium on water security on 25 and 26 June 2014 at UKZN. The colloquium was hosted by the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) in collaboration with the School of Life Sciences. The 60 attendees from various corners of the sector included students, academics, civil society representatives, municipal managers and politicians. The colloquium was designed to specifically address the themes of public expectations and municipal obligations regarding water quality, water reuse, and water security and governance. Invited guests were welcomed by Prof Urmilla Bob (Dean of Research, UKZN), followed by Prof Roland Schulze with a thought-provoking talk on ‘Water Security Dimensions in South Africa’. The colloquium was organised by Dr Sershen Naidoo, co-chair of SAYAS, who concluded by emphasising the importance of universities playing a role in finding solutions to national problems such as water security.

Hanke and other young profes-sionals stressed the significance of capacitating young professionals and intergenerational dialogue through-out the workshop. These conclusions confirmed the colloquium’s major output: a consensus document, put

together with the aid of the Municipal Institute of Learning, which will be shared with government (local, pro-vincial and national), civil society and academics across the country and in the Southern African region with the help of SAYAS and YWP.

Taking the initiativeIn addition to these events, the KZN YWP-ZA also attended several career fairs at universities, such as the Mangosuthu University of Technology, University of South Africa and Durban University of Technology. The KZN chapter sees career fairs as an opportunity to reach out to young students by providing them with guidance and advice on their career choices and prospective professional careers in the water sector. This year, the KZN YWP-ZA signed up over 75 aspiring young professionals, of whom a number show a keen interest in becoming active members within the region.

A noticeable trend at this year’s events was the initiative taken by YWPs in approaching companies and organisations to present and provide guidance to underprivileged students at career days. This is a trend that is expected to intensify across commu-nities in KZN.

All it takes is one person to motivate a communityYoung Professionals are taking the lead, writes Shanna Nienaber.

Former YWP-ZA chairperson Inga Jacobs presenting at Durban City Hall, with Cllr James Nxumalo, city manager Sibusiso Sithole, and Suvritha Ramphal and Franclyn Samuels from the KZN YWP-ZA joining her on stage

NEWS


THE SUMMIT provided an opportunity for all partners to come together to share ideas, experiences, exper-

tise and capacity. This will go a long way in ensuring coordinated efforts between not just government role players but including the private sector, public entities and non gov-ernmental entities.

The summit saw a range of topics covered, including: Meeting the Service Delivery Challenge, The Water and Sanitation Policy Environment, Water Research, Technology and

Innovation Choices, The State of South Africa’s Water Resources, and The Role of the Private Sector. The most immediate of these challenges is arguably the service delivery issue.

Basic service delivery protests, of which many earlier in the year turned violent, are overwhelming reflections of the thoughts and needs of the people. Even though the recent protests were not always about these services specifically, poor service delivery acted as a reflective catalyst used to bring attention to other matters.

The Department of Water and Sanitation has taken a new look into the way of delivering on its mandate – it will remain cognisant of the centrality of water in all planning, while ensuring that people’s dignity is restored.

In her opening speech, Minister Mokonyane said, “The transformation and de-racialisation of South Africa through the provision of water and sanitation should be fast-tracked. For us to contribute meaningfully to the realisation of the NDP objectives and the electoral mandate, we have to

Water and Sanitation SummitThe Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane, delivered the opening address at the Water and Sanitation Summit recently. The summit has brought together all major role players and stakeholders within these critical, basic service delivery sectors.

For this and other Degrémont water treatment plant equipment, contactGeorge van der Merwe, Technical mngr | [email protected] de Vos, Business Development Manager | [email protected]

Degrémont, a subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, is the world specialist

in water treatment plants and as such makes an important contribution towards

sustainable development.

Degrémont’s subsidiary in South Africa previously trading as AQUAZUR, is committed to keep plants running smoothly.

The objectives of Dégremont’s Spares Department are mainly

to supply the needs of its clients with

• The best and affordable quality spares, as per the original designs• Delivering the spares within the best specified delivery period

Tel: +27 (0) 11 807 1983 Fax: +27 (0)10 591 5095www.degremont.co.za

COMMITTED TOGETHER TO WATER, A SOURCE OF LIFE

DESIGN AND SUPPLY OF SPARE PARTSTHE WATER TREATMENT SPECIALISTS

Degrémont, a subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, is the world specialist in the design and construction of water treatment plants and

an important contributor towards sustainable development.

For PULSATOR Settling tank or similar• Baffles• Lamellar blocks and plates• GRP pipes• Vacuum FanFor AQUAZUR V & T Filters or similar• Nozzles, Washers & Grommets• Partialisation Valves• Clack Valves• Silica Filter Media• Siphon• Slab mouldOther Spare parts• Chemical dosing pump• Various pumps• Various valves• Pipes (GRP, Fibreglass, PVC, Steel)• Instrumentation• Air diffuser• Mixer• Membranes• Screening

NEWS


do things differently. As part of the drive towards radical socio-economic transformation, we need to ensure that solutions to water and sanitation challenges must be about opening the sector to those that have been disenfranchised. This will have to done by providing skills develop-ment and economic empowerment, as well access to quality water and dignified sanitation.”

The issues of water and sanitation cut across all spheres of socio-eco-nomic life. This therefore requires “the application of a seamless integrated water approach”, as Mokonyane said in her maiden de-partmental Budget Vote speech. In order for this reality to come to pass, there is a need for all stakeholders in the sector, big and small, to un-derstand the value they bring to the team, but more importantly, they need to be willing team players while sharing expertise and capacity.

The need for inter-governmental cooperation cannot be underplayed.

We all know that service delivery happens at a local level and, in aid of this, the summit has brought togeth-er the Department of Cooperative Governance as well as Traditional Affairs and the South African Local Government Association as partners. Their roles in coordination will en-sure that these crucial services get to people in time and stay operative for longer.

Minister Pravin Gordhan indicated that cooperation between depart-ments is vital, and incentive pro-grammes for municipalities need to be considered. Working with longer-term plans should encourage a more developmental, maintenance-mind-ed way of working. “Municipalities need to use at least 7% of their budget for maintenance. We need to also get out of working in silos and we must synchronise the grants we receive to our backlogs, he said.

While maintenance is a non-ne-gotiable practice, research and development, as well as innovation

must play the necessary roles of bringing new, cutting-edge forms of service delivery.

Gatherings such as the Water and Sanitation Summit are therefore critical at this point in our country’s development. The work of the Department of Water and Sanitation will continue as part of the country’s Programme of Action, guided by the National Development Plan and the National Water Resource Strategy-2.

Nomvula Mokonyane, Minister of Water and Sanitation

For this and other Degrémont water treatment plant equipment, contactGeorge van der Merwe, Technical mngr | [email protected] de Vos, Business Development Manager | [email protected]

Degrémont, a subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, is the world specialist

in water treatment plants and as such makes an important contribution towards

sustainable development.

Degrémont’s subsidiary in South Africa previously trading as AQUAZUR, is committed to keep plants running smoothly.

The objectives of Dégremont’s Spares Department are mainly

to supply the needs of its clients with

• The best and affordable quality spares, as per the original designs• Delivering the spares within the best specified delivery period

Tel: +27 (0) 11 807 1983 Fax: +27 (0)10 591 5095www.degremont.co.za

COMMITTED TOGETHER TO WATER, A SOURCE OF LIFE

DESIGN AND SUPPLY OF SPARE PARTSTHE WATER TREATMENT SPECIALISTS

Degrémont, a subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, is the world specialist in the design and construction of water treatment plants and

an important contributor towards sustainable development.

For PULSATOR Settling tank or similar• Baffles• Lamellar blocks and plates• GRP pipes• Vacuum FanFor AQUAZUR V & T Filters or similar• Nozzles, Washers & Grommets• Partialisation Valves• Clack Valves• Silica Filter Media• Siphon• Slab mouldOther Spare parts• Chemical dosing pump• Various pumps• Various valves• Pipes (GRP, Fibreglass, PVC, Steel)• Instrumentation• Air diffuser• Mixer• Membranes• Screening


HOT SEAT

FOR FOUR decades, Umgeni Water has been abstracting raw water, treating it and delivering it as safe drinking

water to six municipalities which, in turn, supply this water to an estimated 4.8 million consumers. The water produced by Umgeni Water meets the South African National Standards 241 for drinking water quality and, as a consequence, received nine Blue Drop awards in 2012 for excellence in water quality management in partnership with its customers.

The role Umgeni Water plays in pub-lic health is of particular importance in preventing water-borne diseases and other illnesses, and the treated water that flows through the pipelines of Umgeni Water is among the finest in the country.

Umgeni Water was established in June 1974 in terms of Government Notice No 114. Headquartered in Pietermaritzburg, it initially had a staff complement of four and customers that included the cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg and water users in the corridor between the two cities and in the Midlands. Present-day Umgeni Water is the largest water board in KwaZulu-Natal and the second largest organisation of its kind in South Africa. It has a service area ten times larger than its original size, with 900 staff members and six municipal customers.

Umgeni Water operates in accord-ance with the Water Services Act (Act 108 of 1997) and the Public Finance Management Act (Act 1 of 1999), and is categorised as a national govern-ment business enterprise. It reports directly to the Minister of Water and Sanitation. The organisation derives its revenue from the sale of bulk potable water to its six customers:• eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality• iLembe District Municipality

• Ugu District Municipality• Harry Gwala District Municipality• uMgungundlovu District Municipality• Msunduzi Local Municipality.A total of 435 million m3 of potable water per annum (1 191 Mℓ/d) is sup-plied to these customers.

Umgeni Water’s infrastructure assets, in support of its potable water busi-ness, comprises: • approximately 746 km of pipelines

and 66 km of tunnels• 14 impoundments, of which six

are managed on behalf of the Department of Water and Sanitation and two on behalf of the Ugu District Municipality

• 13 water treatment works, of which two are managed on behalf of the Ugu District Municipality, an additional 14 small water treatment works and 10 borehole schemes are managed on behalf of the iLembe District Municipality.

The organisation also treats bulk wastewater totalling 31.8 million m3

per annum (87 Mℓ/d) and in support of this operates five wastewater treatment works.

The organisation will grow in terms of institutional reform and re-align-ment proposed by the Department of Water and Sanitation. Umgeni Water will become a fully fledged regional entity, serving six ad-ditional municipalities. Four of these munici-palities are in northern KwaZulu-Natal (uThukela District Municipality, Umzinyathi District Municipality, Amajuba District Municipality and Newcastle Local Municipality) and two are in the Eastern Cape (Alfred Nzo District Municipality and the

Ngquza Hill Local Municipality within OR Tambo District Municipality).

The core functions of the organisa-tion have essentially remained un-changed; however, legislative reform over the years has allowed it to also undertake commercial activities as added-value services to its customers. While there has been diversification of its role, the organisation remains com-mitted to its mandate and to its crucial role in socio-economic development.

Umgeni Water’s effective implemen-tation of its mandate has enabled it to positively impact on the growth of KwaZulu-Natal and the lives of its people. In recognition of its role and contribution to the provincial econo-my and society at large, Umgeni Water has, over the years, received a number of prestigious awards and accolades. The 40th anniversary of Umgeni Water is an important event in the history of the organisation, the province, and its water users.

www.umgeni.co.za

Providing safe drinking water for the people of KZN

Cyril Gamede, chief executive of Umgeni Water

In July this year Umgeni Water turned 40 years old – a remarkable milestone in the history of the organisation.


OPINION

THEIR skyrocketing costs could play a role in crippling the fragile economies of some developing countries,

according to a study by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School.

Richard Taylor, executive director of the International Hydropower Association, said he disagreed with many of the report’s findings.

Countries around the world, from Laos to Ethiopia, are pushing ahead with plans for mega-dam pro-jects, after a 10-year hiatus in which such projects were seen as poor choices for solving problems and funding largely disappeared.

In part, the surge in dam building is designed to help produce “green”

hydropower to meet growing en-ergy demand and avoid boosting climate-changing emissions from growth in the use of fossil fuel energy plants. As climate change brings more irregular rainfall, dams in some regions also are seen as a way of stor-ing water, controlling water flows and managing droughts and floods.

Taylor said four out of every five dams in the world are today used primarily for water management, with many also providing energy to nearby communities.

The benefits of these projects are a matter of some debate. The Oxford report claims that the results produced by big dams are hard to measure and rarely make up for big costs and long timelines.

A group of researchers at Saïd Business School evaluated the viabil-ity of modern megadam projects. Led by Bent Flyvbjerg, a leading expert on megaprojects and economic decision making, they studied 245 dams built between 1937 and 2007 for an article in the journal Energy Policy.

What they found is that in most situations, large hydropower dams are likely to be too expensive and take too long to build to deliver a “positive, risk-adjusted return.” This is something dam project planners should be able to predict if they compared their plans with historical records of dam construction, accord-ing to Flyvbjerg.

“Basically, what planners of dams today do not do is benchmark their plans against the actual outcomes of already completed dams,” he said. “If they did, they would see that large dams almost always overrun their projected costs and schedules, some-times by considerable amounts,” he said.

An example is Brazil’s controversial Belo Monte Dam, which was initially given a $14.4 billion price tag but is currently projected to cost $27.4 bil-lion by the time it is finished.

Dam planners’ projected budgets have not gotten any more accurate in the last 80 years, the report said – Flyvbjerg called this a “surprising

Megadams and Africa:

Economically unviable?

Most large-scale dam projects do more economic harm than good due to poor or dishonest planning, writes Samuel Mintz of AlertNet Climate.


OPINION

result. You would expect profes-sionals in the field to improve their predictions. Our data goes back 80 years for dams and 70 years for trans-port projects, and shows very clearly no improvement.”

Taylor, the hydropower association executive director, said that he is certain predictions have in fact gotten better. “The scope of expec-tation around project development, the knowledge and understanding that exists today, is way in advance of what it was in the last century, where a lot of this data was taken from,” he said. “It would be really erroneous to imply that no learning has taken place.”

Where and how do project plan-ners go wrong, as they supposedly have been doing since the 1930s? According to the study, they make two main errors in their predic-tions: they either succumb to over optimism, which Flyvbjerg says is a natural human tendency, or they deliberately and strategically misrep-resent their project in order to gain approval or funding.

There is “strong evidence that misplaced political incentives and agency problems lead to flawed decision-making,” the report said. The dual problems of “delusion” and “de-ception” often complement and ex-acerbate each other, the report said.

In a press release issued by the authors, Flyvbjerg said that the two categories of inaccurate predictors can be divided into “fools” and “liars.”

“Fools are the reckless optimists who see the future with rose-tinted glasses,” he said. “These forecasting fools ignore hard facts and uncer-tainty, betting the family silver on gambles with very low probability of success. Liars deliberately mislead the public for private gain, fiscal or political, by painting overly-positive prospects of an investment, just to get it going.”

Taylor, of the dam industry, said that he found that implication “incredibly offensive” and cited the report as making a common mistake about evaluating project planners’ estimations.

“In their data analysis, they’ve assumed that the construction engineers’ estimate for construc-tion is the project cost. It’s not,”

he said. According to Taylor, the project cost includes consideration of all associated programmes, including social programs and environmental management.

“To look at the total cost of the project at the end of the process and compare the difference is not comparing apples with apples,” he said.

The Oxford report suggests that governments and companies look into smaller, more flexible projects to replace the role of megadams in supplying what Flyvbjerg called a “power-hungry world.”

He said that projects like those in Norway, which feature small dams or turbines in tunnels, can be much more efficient and, importantly, deliv-er needed energy much more quickly compared to megadam projects which can take decades to complete.

Large dam projects also often lead to displacement of communities, and can provoke protests, as has hap-pened with indigenous communities in Brazil who will lose some of their territory to the Belo Monte Dam.

Taylor, however, said there is no di-rect correlation between the scale of dam projects and sustainability, and said that a “concentrated, centralised solution” is often the most efficient way to deliver energy.

In the year 2000, the World Commission on Dams released a comprehensive 350-page report about the role of dams around the world, highlighting sugges-tions for creating more efficient hydropower projects. The dam-aging report caused a long lull in megadam building.

However, that trend has turned around recently and construction has picked up again.

Flyvbjerg said that he hopes his team’s work can have the same effect

as the World Commission on Dams report did almost 15 years ago.

“We wanted to see, is there any new evidence that would actually justify this re-emergence of the large number of large-scale dams being constructed around the world? What

we find is that there is no evidence to support doing that. The evidence shows the exact opposite, just as we saw 20 years ago,” he said.

“We do hope that things can change; we don’t take it as a given that megadams have to continue, and we do hope that our study may help change things for the better.”

Peter Bosshard, the policy director of a US-based organisation called International Rivers, said that the report, which he referred to as the “most thorough independent evaluation of large dams ever,” is a “damning indictment” of the dam building sector.

“Even after following large dam projects for the past 20 years, I was stunned by its findings,” he said.

“Their evaluation also refutes the frequent assertion that dam builders have learned from past mistakes. Fortunately, renewable energy al-ternatives are readily available, and governments are well advised to prioritise them in their future energy strategies,” Bosshard added.

However, Taylor said that he be-lieves final costs and even cost over-runs do not necessarily dictate the wisdom of a project. “It’s a risk that has to be managed, and I believe that the sector is getting better at doing that,” he said.

“The wisdom of the investment is to take the life cycle of that project, and ask, ‘Is that going to be putting society in a better place to manage the future?’ Dams, and particularly hydropower projects, provide a very prudent way to manage our future, working with nature best as we can to make sure that we can provide the vital services of energy and water.”

Source: allafrica.com

DAM UPDATE By the time it is finished, the Belo Monte Dam being built in Brazil’s Amazon will cost $27.4 billion, and China’s Three Gorges Dam is set to cost the Asian superpower $26 billion over the next 10 years. In Pakistan, building the Tarbela Dam boosted the country’s external debt by 23% between 1968 and 1984.

The surge in dam building is designed to help produce green hydropower to meet growing energy demand

bidim R


INFRASTRUCTURE NEWS from around the continent

in association with

KENYARights to safe water and sanitation a must While

Kenyans have rights to safe water

and sanitation on paper, it is now

time to turn the law into reality for

the millions who do not enjoy these

fundamental rights, an independent

United Nations human rights expert

said at the end of her mission to

the country.

“Kenya is in a critical transitional

moment for the provision of

water and sanitation,” Catarina de

Albuquerque, the Special Rapporteur

on the human right to safe drinking

water and sanitation, said in a

statement. “Kenya is often invoked as

a model on an international level due

to the constitutional recognition of

water and sanitation as human rights.

“However, there is still a long way to

go to realise the human rights to wa-

ter and sanitation for all. Much more

has to be done to translate the law

into reality for the millions of Kenyans

for whom these human rights are still

only a mirage.”

Following her 22 to 28 July visit,

De Albuquerque urged the Kenyan

parliament to adopt the Water Bill,

and the government to subsequently

develop a new national water and

sanitation strategy, which should

be translated into real action at

county level.

A news release on the visit

noted that only 30 per cent of Kenya’s

population has access to improved

sanitation, while 13 per cent of people

still have no choice but to defecate in

the open. “This is a daily indignity for

over 6 million people,” said the expert.

In Turkana county, which De

Albuquerque visited during her

mission, over 80 per cent of the

population practise open defecation.

“This is not only an absolute denial

of the right to sanitation, but also a

serious threat to public health and

the security of women and girls who

have to walk into the bush at night,”

she stressed.

LIBERIALWSC alarm over water theft The managing director of the

Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation

(LWSC), Charles Allen, reveals that over

5 000 residents are illegally receiving

a water supply from the country. Allen

says, based on LWSC’s data, the entity

has a total of 11 000 customers across

the country, out of which 6 000 are

duly registered and have paid their

sewer service charge, while the rest

continue to engage in illegal activities.

He points out that the institution is

desperately trying to stabilise services

and focus on customers. “We have

been vetting the customer database

and 6 000 confirm to be registered for

water supply,” he adds.

Like other basic social services, safe

drinking water still remains a serious

challenge to the post-war nation

despite 10 years of peace. Allen states

that some residents are receiving

water that is not registered, which is

against the law. He warns that if illegal

water receivers do not go to register

or update their status, LWSC will shut

down the entire process and turn

them over to the police.

According to him, for the past two

years, water has been a big issue

in Liberia but, with management’s

intervention, Monrovia is currently

receiving 12-hour water supply. “We

have completed the design of the

White Plain Plant and work will begin

in October 2014,″ he explains. Kakata,

in Margibi County, is the only place

in the entire country that receives

24-hour supply.

NIGERIACholera kills five; 120 cases reported Five people have been

killed by the outbreak of cholera at

Ayamelum Local Government Area of

Anambra State.

The State Commissioner for Health,

Dr Joe Akabike, says that so far,

120 cases of the disease have been

reported. The commissioner says it

is necessary to alert the public of the

presence of the disease in the state,

so that people take precautionary

measures, advising them to maintain

good hygiene, which includes regular

washing of hands as a means of

avoiding contact with the disease.

Following the outbreak of the

disease, officials of the state Ministry

of Health have swung into action

to educate people in various local

government areas on how to avoid

contracting the virus.

According to him, the state govern-

ment has provided 400 preventive

tools that would protect health

workers and train people on ways of

preventing the virus.

Akabike, speaking on the reported

outbreak of the dreaded Ebola

disease in Lagos, says it is necessary

to warn the people, especially Igbos

who travel a lot, to be careful. He

explains that symptoms of the disease

include malaria, fever and diarrhoea,

informing the people that Ebola is yet

to have medical cure.

TANZANIAWater infrastructure set to improve The Dar es Salaam Water

and Sewerage Authority (DAWSA)

has promised to end water scarcity

in the country’s commercial capital.

DAWSA is basing their promise on

the ongoing expansion project of the

Upper Ruvu water treatment plant.

Speaking with East African Business

Week in Dar es Salaam last month,

acting director for technical services at

DAWASA Romanus Mwang’ingo said

the project, which began in February

this year, will cost $39.19 million.

He said once the project is com-

pleted the capacity from the plant

will reach 196 million litres from the

current 82 million litres.

He explained, “The government,

through DAWASA, is determined to

end water scarcity in the city, with

a population of 4.5 million, and

preparation for the work has already

begun, including construction of a

new clarifier.”

Referring to the phase of

laying water pipes from Upper

Ruvu to the Kibamba and Kimara

areas, Mwang’ingo said an Indian

company, Megha Engineering and

Infrastructural Limited, is doing the

work. It is expected to be completed

in September 2015. This phase will

cost $58.48 million.

Other components of the project

include construction of a new pipeline

from Upper Ruvu to Kibamba, with a

1 200 mm width covering 20 km, and

another new pipeline from Kibaha

Tanita to Kibamba and Kimara, with a

width of 1 000 mm covering a length

of 10 km.

The project will also involve the

construction of new reservoir tanks

with the capacity to reserve 10 million

litres of water and the renovation of

two reservoirs in Kimara.

The Upper Ruvu water treatment

plant project, which is undertaken

by VA Tech Wabag, is expected to be

completed next month. The Dar es

Salaam project is intended to improve

the accessibility, quality, reliability

and affordability of water supply

and sanitation services in order to

improve public health and well-being

in a city prone to outbreaks of

water-borne diseases.

Dar es Salaam is projected to have

over five million inhabitants within

the next decade. It also continues to

be the one city in Tanzania to which

villagers flock for better opportunities.

Westerners and Asians are also settling

in Dar es Salaam, and the surge of

foreigners has put pressure on officials

to implement laws better accommo-

dating the growing population of Dar

es Salaam and its suburbs.

AFRICA ROUND-UP

South Africa SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS

Head Office: Block E, Edenburg Terraces, 348 Rivonia Boulevard, Rivonia

P.O Box 3867, Rivonia 2128, Tel: (011) 808 3000, Fax: (011) 808 3001, [email protected]

Offices situated in South Africa:Gauteng, Western Cape, Kwa-Zulu Natal & Limpopo

Also present in: Botswana, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique and Senegal

Ingerop South Africa supports the MH Joosub Senior Secondary School in Lenasia

Hatfield Station, Pretoria LJVBPL Raccordement de Laval – West France

Cahorra Bassa Dam, Mozambique Vidin Calafat Bridge, Bulgaria

Ingérop South Africa is a multi-disciplinary consulting engineering and project management company with more than 120 qualified personnel involved in various projects throughout Africa.

As a member of the Ingérop Group of companies - a long established privately-owned French consulting engineering firm currently employing more than 1,500 permanent staff members – we have immediate access to international expertise and technologies enabling us to continuously provide our clients with innovative and appropriate world-class solutions.

Established in 1957, Ingérop South Africa has developed strong capabilities to serve both the public and private sector clients in the fields of: infrastructure, public transport, energy, water, environment and socio economic studies. Our range of services include consulting and feasibility studies on any subject relevant to our disciplines, design and construction supervision, as well as commissioning of works on major projects.

Corporate Social Investment (CSI) is another key element of the company's business strategy. Our CSI initiatives are aimed at establishing and sustaining positive social development in our surrounding communities. With education being one of our primary CSI focus areas, we continuously concentrate on improving and uplifting previously disadvantaged schools.


INDUSTRY NEWS

South Africa experiences significant environmental

pollution from sulphur waste (liquid, solid and gas) but the slush that is produced when water is treated by mines contains valuable deposits that are lost.

The Western, Central and Eastern Basins of the Witwatersrand produce 200 million litres of acid mine water. During desalination of saline water, large brine streams are also produced. In addition, the fertiliser industry produces 15 000 tonnes of waste gypsum per day as sulphuric acid, which is used for the processing of phosphate rock into phosphoric acid.

Prof Jan Maree, Rand Water Chair in Water Utilisation and the team leader of the Treatment Group at the Tshwane University of Technology in conjunction with its industrial partner on the project, Key Structure Holdings, developed a cost-effective solution for the treatment of acid water and brines.

“Our focus was on minimising the treatment cost of mine water. The team developed a process where limestone could be used for the removal of the most prominent components in mine water. In the case of the slush processing, we aimed to recover the value products inside, such as sulphur and rare earth metals,” says Maree.

ANGLO American’s Isibonelo operation and the Govan Mbeki

Municipality have signed a memorandum of agreement focused on improving sanitation in the communities of Lebohang and Emzinoni in Mpumalanga. Signed in April 2014, the agreement signals the launch of a R27 million infrastructure development project that forms part of the mine’s social and labour plan, which was agreed with the local municipality.

Existing sanitation infrastruc-ture in Lebohang Extension 16 is in poor condition and, after numerous instances of equipment malfunction, parts of the structure are either defective or show clear signs of deterioration. The mine will replace the existing sewer line and main outfall network at a cost of R22 million.

The second component of the project involves a R5.7 mil-lion replacement of two of the four failing pump stations in Emzinoni.

Prof Jan Maree takes top honours

Upping rural sanitation

“At Anglo American, we aim to ensure that local communi-ties benefit from our presence in the area. This includes improving service delivery by enhancing the capacity of local municipalities,” said Isibonelo mine’s general manager, Dirk Miller.

“This project will improve community health and living standards and provides an ex-ample of what can be achieved through partnerships between the private and public sectors,” he continued.

“The municipality is excited about this initiative. This type of partnership will benefit the people, who want to see development,” said Councillor Sakhile Mahlangu, a member of the mayoral committee for planning and development at the Govan Mbeki Municipality.

Black-owned businesses based in Lebohang and Emzinoni will carry out the work to facilitate employment creation and skills transfer. Both projects are due for com-pletion by the end of 2014.

Anglo American’s Isibonelo operation invests R27 million to improve sanitation in host communities.

Char

lie F

awel

l

ABOUT ANGLO AMERICANAnglo American, headquartered in the UK, is one of the world’s largest mining companies and listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges.

Anglo American’s por tfolio of mining businesses spans bulk commodities – iron ore and manganese, metallurgical coal and thermal coal; base metals – copper and nickel; and precious metals and minerals – in which it is a global leader in both platinum and diamonds.

Anglo American is committed to the highest standards of safety and responsibility across all its businesses and geographies and to making a sustainable difference in the development of communities around its operations.

The company’s mining operations, extensive pipeline of growth projects and exploration activities span Southern Africa, South America, Australia, North America, Asia and Europe.


BLUE DROP

WITH THE 2004 in-troduction of formal regulation in South Africa, a survey was

conducted among municipalities to determine the extent of drinking wa-ter quality monitoring. It was a shock-ing fact to discover that more than 50% of the water services authorities (WSA) did not monitor the quality of tap water provided to their re-spective constituencies. In response, initial regulation objectives were to improve the monitoring records.

This was achieved mainly through the introduction of the electronic Water Quality Management System as a means to improve drinking water quality management but also to allow the department access to information, which improved regu-lation efficiency. This open-sourced

system was availed to all WSAs with funding from the fiscus and, together with new regulatory pressure ap-plied, 100% of municipalities were undertaking drinking water quality monitoring by 2007.

While this was a tremendously successful feat, the department was not comfortable with the renewed prominence of monitoring alone and thus went in search for regulatory innovation, which would allow for a more proactive stance towards ensuring the supply of safe tap water. There was also increasing recognition that monitoring drinking water for compliance was not sufficient to guarantee the quality and safety of our water supplies. A significant lim-itation of the monitoring-alone ap-proach was that it promotes reactive management, rather than proactive,

preventative management, as cor-rective actions are initiated only after drinking water quality monitoring indicates that limits have been ex-ceeded. By the time that water quali-ty monitoring indicates that there are health-related contaminants present, a water treatment process failure has occurred and many people may already have been exposed.

The 2005 and 2007 drinking water quality failures in Delmas also emphasised the shortcomings of the traditional drinking water quality management and regulatory approaches. Internationally, the water quality fraternity also focused on output-based regulation that relied exclusively on monitoring results to inform decision-making. The drinking water quality failure of Walkerton (Ontario, Canada) in 2000,

Early days of SA drinking water quality regulation

Initial efforts in drinking water quality management in South Africa focused on the monitoring of drinking water quality in order to manage it and ensure a safe drinking water supply. Maryke Foulds looks at how early efforts have ensured water quality today.

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when thousands of people were hospitalised and five people lost their lives due to a massive drinking water quality failure, necessitated a rethink on the reactive manner in which the quality of drinking water was being managed and regulated.

The subsequent hearing resulted in a watershed judgement from Judge O’Connor which formed the foun-dation for the water safety plan con-cept. The World Health Organization (WHO) documented a more proac-tive and holistic approach to drinking water quality management in their 2004 guidelines, which was advo-cated globally by both the WHO and International Water Association. From this the ‘catchment-to-consumer’ drinking water quality management concept was developed.

In recognition of the limitations of the monitoring-only approach and international best practice thinking, the Drinking Water Quality Framework for South Africa was prepared in 2005, based on a preventative risk management ap-proach, which is comprehensive from catchment to consumer. This ap-proach promoted an understanding of the entire water supply system, the events that could compromise drink-ing water quality and the operational control necessary for optimising drinking water quality and protecting public health.

The Drinking Water Quality Framework for South Africa was updated in 2008, and the concept of incentive-based regulation was introduced to the water sector on 11 September 2008, at the National Municipal Indaba in Johannesburg by the Minister of Water Affairs. The concept was defined by two pro-grammes: the Blue Drop Certification Programme for Drinking Water Quality Management Regulation and the Green Drop Certification Programme for Wastewater Quality Management Regulation. This incen-tive-based regulation programme was locally developed for uniquely South African challenges within drinking water quality management. It is a programme that allows for pro-active management and regulation of drinking water quality through the introduction of excellence require-ments based upon legislated norms

and standards, as well as internation-al best practice.

The Blue Drop Certification Programme has had a significant positive effect on the drinking water quality sector of South Africa and promises to be the catalyst for sus-tainable improvement in drinking water quality management.

Blue Drop statistics to date• Two Blue Drop assessment cycles

have been completed since the

inception of the programme and an increase in the number of water supply systems certified with the prestigious Blue Drop was noted. The number of certified systems im-proved from 23 (2009) to 39 (2010).

• There was a significant improve-ment recoded in the national average Blue Drop score. Average scores increased from 53% in 2009 to 70.7% in 2010.

• Overall drinking water quality compliance improved over a rolling

The 2005 and 2007 drinking water quality failures in Delmas also emphasised the shortcomings of the

traditional drinking water quality management and regulatory approaches

BLUE DROP

Blue Drop Scores

Microbiological Compliance

Chemical Compliance

Physical Compliance

Eastern Cape 79.40% 97.30% 99.20% 99.00%

Free State 48.50% 97.40% 99.60% 98.80%

Gauteng 85.54% 99.50% 99.70% 99.60%

KwaZulu Natal 65.91% 97.30% 98.90% 96.50%

Limpopo 54.95% 92.90% 97.90% 98.90%

Mpumalanga 65.42% 89.00% 97.40% 98.90%

North West 66.01% 97.00% 99.30% 99.30%

Northern Cape 46.87% 93.10% 99.30% 98.90%

Western Cape 92.45% 98.20% 96.20% 99.00%

National Average 70.75% 97.30%1 99.50%2 99.00%2

1 Microbiological compliance will remain the main benchmark for DWQ per formance measurement. The National Standard (SANS 241:2006) sets a target of 97% while the Blue Drop excellence target is set at 99%.

2 With the drive to enhance data credibility (through the “step ladder” approach towards accreditation and implementation of water safety plan informed monitoring programmes), it is expected that these compliance figures would slightly decline, yet the target will remain 95% as set in the national standard.

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12-month period. Microbiological compliance improved from 93.3% to 97.5%, while chemical com-pliance improved from 98.9 % to 99.5%.

• The programme gives prominence to water safety planning, as the basis for proactive, risk-based drink-ing water quality management. In 2009, only nine systems had water safety plans in place, while in 2010, 154 systems were incorporated in a water safety planning process.

• There has been a significant enhancement in the credibility of monitoring programmes and the influence of the water safety planning process now ensures that monitoring is based upon the risk assessments that inform drinking water quality management.

• Decision-makers now have a great-er focus on drinking water quality management and this has resulted in positive budget revisions at mu-nicipal level. National Treasury now requires municipalities to incor-porate Blue Drop and Green Drop planning into their business plans.

• Improved public engagement with drinking water quality manage-ment has also enhanced accounta-bility of responsible authorities. The Blue Drop System allows municipal-ities to promote their drinking wa-ter quality to a wider audience via the My Water search-engine-based

application (http://www.dwa.gov.za/mywater).

• This regulation, where the public is empowered with a source of infor-mation, allows the public to apply pressure for improved drinking wa-ter quality management. Improved media access to information has also resulted in improved reporting of drinking water quality and has minimised sensationalist reporting.

• The DWA Drinking Water Quality Regulation unit has also established

good relationships with the DWI (Drinking Water Inspectorate, UK), enhancing the credibility of the local regulation programme.

• The Department of Water Affairs serves as a member of WHO’s International Network of Drinking-Water Regulators where inter-national trends in regulation are defined and discussed.

Even though significant progress has been made, there remain considera-ble challenges in the field of drinking water quality. Tackling these will re-quire a focused regulatory approach as well as intensified municipal management commitment to ensure improvement. These challenges generally occur in the domain of the management and operation of treat-ment technology, due to the lack of adequate process controlling skills.The Department of Water Affairs is implementing the incentive-based

Even though significant progress has been made, there remain considerable challenges in the field of drinking water quality

Blue Drop Certification Programme to acknowledge excellence in drink-ing water quality management in South Africa. The programme is designed with the specific intent to encourage and facil-itate a turnaround in non-compliant municipalities, to acknowledge those who are achieving and maintaining standards of best practice and ex-cellence, and to bring credible and current information to the South African public.

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PROJEC T FOCUS

HOWEVER, progress has been made since the incident in October last year on both under-

ground and above-ground facilities.The Ingula Pumped Storage

Scheme is now in its seventh year of construction and had it not been for the tragic accident and closure, one of the four 333 MW reversible pump turbines would be undergo-ing commissioning at this time. The Eskom project is located between Ladysmith and Harrismith, and will have a generating capacity of 1 332 MW available during periods of peak demand and to supplement base load when necessary.

Ingula is a peaking hydropower station comprising an upper and a lower dam, separated in elevation by 480 m, and an underground powerhouse located 116 storeys underground in two excavated underground caverns, housing 4 x 333 MW Francis-type turbines.

An underground labyrinth of inter-connecting tunnels extends 6.5 km, and 3 km of access tunnels and a number of shafts allow water to be released from the upper Bedford Dam and delivered to the turbines producing power, before being cap-tured in the lower Bramhoek Dam. During off-peak times the turbines are reversed, pumping water back

from Bramhoek Dam to Bedford, in readiness for the next peak event.

Construction senior supervisor Jacques du Plessis from consultants Royal HaskoningDHV, one of the three firms of consultants that make up the design and construc-tion supervision team, Braamhoek Consultants Joint Venture, explains recent progress milestones. “Underground work is proceeding apace with the concrete lining in the tailrace and headrace tunnels completed; the cavity and consoli-dation tunnel grouting is about 75% complete and concrete slip-forming at one of two 91 m high surge chambers has commenced. All civil

Progress at Ingula

The multibillion rand Ingula Pumped Storage Scheme, like many around the world of this magnitude and complexity, has suffered delays, not least the site closure ordered by the Department of Labour after last year’s tragic accident that claimed the lives of six construction workers.

Open loop pumped hydro storage technology


PROJEC T FOCUS

works in the transformer hall have been completed and the machine hall and underground control room are nearing completion,” he explains.

“The first turbine shaft and runner were taken underground recently. Two generator transformers have been installed and mechanical and electrical fit-out work is underway. Above ground, the operations and maintenance on the intake structure are nearing completion

as is the stop-log storage facility at the outlet,” says Du Plessis.

The double-sto-rey administra-tion building, whose basement has direct access to the main tunnel leading to the underground power station, has also recently been completed.

In addition to office space, the building accommodates the ex-ternal control centre for the power station. The visitors’ centre, which comprises a small office wing, a cinema, various display halls, an au-ditorium and facilities wings, is also complete. The surrounding area will be landscaped with indigenous plants to minimise the visual impact of the surface buildings.

“Amid all this heavy engineering work, Eskom is conscious of its environmental responsibilities and in particular the site’s bird life,” enthuses du Plessis. More than 275 bird species have been sighted at Ingula, including all three crane species that although rare, are regularly seen there. “The endan-gered southern bald ibis is another resident of the conservation area and thirty breeding pairs have been

counted. However, construction of the upper Bedford Dam, completed in 2011, robbed them of their histor-ic nesting ledges, causing Eskom to construct a massive artificial nesting site to compensate for the loss of their originals,” he explains.

The dam is expected to fill to ca-pacity during 2015 for the first time and the hope is that before then the birds will discover the new nesting site themselves. Several dummies were placed in the new site to en-tice them to relocate. The change in habitat due to the construction of the dams is being monitored by conservation staff and already new species are moving into the area.

Anticipated completion and oper-ation of the first of the four turbines is expected by May 2015, with the remaining units coming on stream over the following 12 months.

The pumped storage scheme consists of an upper and lower dam; both are approximately 22 million m3 water capacity

INTERESTING FACTS• The design of Bedford Dam

made provision for wetland protection, landscape aesthetics and artificial bird cliffs.

• Three million m³ of rock were excavated

• Excavations created the largest mud-rock cavern in the world, totalling 200 000 m³.

• Animal and plant fossils dating back 255 million years were discovered indicating that the region was covered by an inland fresh water lake many millennia ago.

Access to the transfer tunnel


PROJEC T FOCUS

THE THREE-YEAR contract was awarded to SMEC South Africa by the DWA following the completion of phase

one of the project in September 2013. SMEC's scope of involvement includes; project management, construction site supervision and reporting, design of canal sections, preparation of working drawings, geotechnical investigations and as-sessment of structures.

The Vlakfontein Canal system, constructed in the 1970s and situated between Standerton and Secunda, is a vitally important strategic com-ponent as it supplies water to two of the country’s largest energy suppli-ers – Eskom and Sasol. The system pumps water from Grootdraai Dam in Standerton to the Vlakfontein Canal at a rate of 5.7 m3/second.

Once the water reaches the canal, it gravitates to the Grootfontein pump station. It is then pumped to the Knoppiesfontein diversion tank, and distributed through two sets of pipe-lines to Bossiespruit Dam for Sasol and Trichardtsfontein Dam for Eskom.

SMEC South Africa Function Manager for Water and Environment Dolf Smook reveals that both com-panies require a 99.5% assurance level. "Sasol only has a couple of

days of storage, and during the rehabilitation period, it has to rely on water pumped back from the Vaal Dam through the Vresap pipeline. Eskom has storage available in the Trichardtsfontein Dam, however, this dam is not allowed to be drawn down to below 50% capacity."

According to Smook, water sup-plied from the Vaal Dam is distribut-ed to Sasol first. "There is currently not enough capacity to supply both Eskom and Sasol. Periodic augmen-tation via the Vlakfontein Canal is required and construction must be programmed to take cognisance of this. Should the Vaal Dam system fail, the canal must be put back in operation within two to three days. Construction planning must also be done to allow for this contingency,” he continues.

Smook points out that a major aspect of Phase 2 is the design and construction of all the cut sections. "A number of execution options were investigated in detail, however the one that proved to be most efficient and cost effective was al-ternating wet and dry periods in the canal by undertaking construction in the dry periods, and refilling the storage dams by pumping during wet periods.”

According to Smook, the canal cannot be out of commission for prolonged periods of time, and therefore Phase One of the rehabil-itation of the Vlakfontein Canal over the first three years entailed the re-habilitation of the fill sections which had a higher risk of failure. "The aim of the Phase Two of the project is to rehabilitate the remaining fill sec-tions of the canal as well as all the cut sections," he continues.

At any given time, SMEC boasts a team of between four and eight engineering professionals on the Vlakfontein rehabilitation project. Smook admits that the project has faced a number of challenges to date. “Heavy rainfall in recent months has disrupted construction work. What's more, a project of this scale is also bound to encounter logistical and procurement challenges."

These challenges have been over-come thanks to the project team’s in-depth expertise and experience, combined with the strong working relationship between all parties involved in the project. "As a result, I am optimistic that the project will be completed within the provision-al deadline of September 2016," Smook concludes.

Water supply link established

LEFT Inlet to pipe bypass Phase 1MIDDLE Placing of lining for canal Phase 1RIGHT Completed section before bridge rehabilitation Phase 1

Global engineering-consultancy firm SMEC has been awarded the detail-design and site-supervision contract for Phase Two of the Vlakfontein Canal rehabilitation project, which is an important water-supply link to coal-fired power stations and petrochemical plants located in Mpumalanga.


TECHNICAL PAPER

DISINFECTION OF water implies the removal, deactivation or killing of pathogenic micro-

organisms and is used to achieve the standard for faecal coliforms as stipulated by South African general and special limits for treated sewage effluent. Various methods of disin-fection are available, including phys-ical (e.g. ultraviolet radiation) and chemical processes (e.g. chlorine, bromine and ozone). Chlorine has been the dominant disinfectant for wastewater. It offers a reliable reduc-tion of pathogenic microorganisms at reasonable operating costs and can be easily applied, measured and controlled.

According to Momba, the current disinfection practice and guideline in terms of chlorine residuals was found not to be sufficient for the re-moval of the target pathogens, since high levels could still be detected in the final effluent in inadequate wastewater treatment.

Sewage-related microorganisms demonstrate different sensitivities to chlorination and these patterns of sensitivity are dependent on the species of chlorine present, contact time and the dose of chlorine applied.

It is mentioned in various sources that in applying the disinfection agents or means, the following fac-tors have to be considered: contact time, concentration and type of

chemical agent, intensity and nature of physical agent, pH, temperature, number of organism, type of organ-ism, age of organism, nature of sus-pending liquid, and chlorine demand.

However, several reports have de-scribed problems in water and waste-water chlorination, e.g. where poor disinfection was observed though sufficient disinfectant was present in the water. It is therefore suspected that the required dose of any disin-fectant is unlikely to be economically viable and upstream changes and optimisation to the plant will be needed. It is also worth noting that the South African Department of Water Affairs’ (DWA) general and spe-cial permits for discharge wastewater effluent into the water course calls for 0.25 and 0 mg/ℓ, respectively, for chlorine residuals.

Due to this pressing need to comply to effluent discharge limitation of non-detected free chlorine in the effluent (that is, chlorine residual is toxic to aquatic life and, even after dechlorination, effluent may still contain carcinogenic and toxic com-pounds) and the cost of chlorination based on the high dosage required, there is a growing interest in the ap-plication of disinfectants other than chlorine (predominantly chlorine di-oxide and ozone) for the disinfection of wastewater effluent in particular. Warriner et al. find that among the chemical disinfectants they tested, chlorine is the dominant agent for either water or wastewater disin-fection, and is usually the economic choice for disinfection of wastewater

Effectivenesss of chlorine as a disinfectant An investigation into the effectiveness of chlorine as a disinfectant was conducted due to the challenges experienced in the operation of wastewater treatment plants operated by Lepelle Northern Water and general experiences within most municipal sewage works. By A Netshidaulu, P Moshoane and J Mosomboka of Lepelle Northern Water

TECHNICAL PAPER


effluent, especially if dechlorination is not required.

Achieving the general or special faecal coliform standard while not exceeding the chlorine residual limit of 0.1 and 0 mg/ℓ, respectively, is of-ten not possible without abnormally large contact tanks and lowering the chlorine residual limit further will aggravate this situation. There is therefore a need to look at chlorine’s optimised effectiveness and its economics, compared with other alternative disinfectants.

Chlorine dose demand during disinfection of wastewater effluent is unrealistically high. Much chlorine is wasted because it reacts with organic and inorganic matters at which chlo-rination is not primarily aimed.

The current practice of disinfection therefore warrants the need to satisfy the chlorine demand before disinfec-tion can proceed. Gehr suggests that if there is little organic matter in the sewage, the disinfection reaction will be fast and additional disinfection

after 30 minutes of contact will be insignificant. However, Gehr further suggests that, at high concentrations of organic matter, disinfection could also occur after this time, provided that the initial chlorine dose was high enough to satisfy the chlorine demand of the sewage and establish a residual.

Since a dosage of as low as 0.034 to 0.2 mg/ℓ free chlorine could be enough to disinfect microorganisms up to 99% inactivation and the sug-gestion that up to 3-logs of inactiva-tion of E. coli or faecal coliforms could be obtained even before the ozone demand was met, this calls into question the concept of the product of residual concentration and contact time as a governing parameter for wastewater disinfection performance.

Therefore, the problem statement is as follows: optimum microorganism inactivation in wastewater disinfec-tion can be achieved without any need to first satisfy and/or meet chlo-rine demand. That is, the wastewater effluent discharge standard for E. coli

or faecal coliforms can be achieved at chlorine dosage concentration less than what is required for breakpoint chlorination to produce residual.

Purpose of this workThere are lots of challenges in opti-mising upstream processes as well as the disinfection process of mu-nicipal wastewater treatment plants. It is important to look at options to reduce chlorine demand and redirect chlorine dosing to its primary aim of inactivation of microorganisms without chlorine demand being met. Thus, this study evaluates the impact of contact time and chlorine residual concentration, which display the effectiveness of chlorine as a disinfectant for wastewater effluent. The required results and information was obtained by studying specific wastewater treatment plant effluent. The results of the study introduce another significant factor for the chlo-rination process, which is turbulence or mixing at the point of dosage, and


this should assist municipal manage-ment to adopt the prescribed way to induce and maintain compliance and reduce the cost of chlorine dosage in general.

Materials and methodsThis work only assessed the effect of the suspended solid, chlorine dose concentration and contact time, which have direct physical impacts on applying, mixing or turbulence at the point of disinfection. Neumann et al. indicate that bacteria inactivation is quantified as a function of disinfect-ant exposure. Other factors that also have an impact on the effectiveness of disinfection were not verified.

It can therefore be concluded that, in this study, experiments were performed under a limited number of conditions and thus the effects of temperature and pH on the inactiva-tion kinetics of bacteria with chlorine remained fully characterised as well as the diffusion rate of chlorine under different conditions.

1. Study siteThe Burgersfort wastewater treat-ment works (WWTW), serving the town of Burgersfort in Limpopo, treats on average 3 Mℓ of wastewater per day with the capacity of 1.5 Mℓ/d. It is a conventional sewage treatment works. Results of wastewater samples collected on monthly basis between June 2011 and October 2012 from the raw water, effluent from secondary sedimentation tanks or humus tanks, and final effluent discharged into the water course, were referred to. Samples were collected in sterile bottles for bacteriological analyses, which were done on final effluent. New and thoroughly rinsed unsterile 2 ℓ plastic bottles were used to collect

samples for chemical analyses. The samples were placed in coolers con-taining ice packs and transported to the Lepelle Northern Water laborato-ry at Ebenezer water treatment plant for analyses within six hours after sample collection. These analyses were conducted to obtain baseline information on the performance of these plants. Samples for bench scale investigations were collected in thoroughly cleaned non-sterile 20 ℓ plastic containers.

The Burgersfort WWTW was monitored during the study period. Chlorine demand results, as obtained in the laboratory test, were compared with the dosing concentrations ap-plied by process controllers on-site and the bacteriological quality of the wastewater discharged.

2. Laboratory investigationsThe methodology applied for bench scale investigations was as follows:

2.1 Bench scale investigations2.1.1 Chlorine solution preparation and analysisThe chlorine solution used in the experiments was made from HTH and chlorine gas diluted with distilled water to obtain a stock solution of about 600 to 800 mg/ℓ free chlorine concentration measured by HACH pocket colorimeter.

2.2 Analyses performedSamples were analysed for ammoni-um, COD, pH, turbidity, E. coli (indica-tor organisms) and chlorine residual. Measurements for pH and turbidity were done according to procedures described in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, using the Metrohm 827 pH Lab, and HACH 2100P Turbidity

meters respectively. Ammonium was analysed using a DR/2500 spectro-photometer. COD was determined using colorimetric determination method 8 000. Enumeration of coliform (E. coli) was analysed by the IDEXX Quanti-Tray standard method and chlorine residual was analysed using a HACH pocket colorimeter. Chlorine concentration was deter-mined by the DPD free and total chlorine method.

DiscussionIn the batch reactor experiments, the free chlorine concentration was gen-erally observed to undergo two phas-es of decay, consisting of an initial phase of relatively fast decay kinetics followed by slower decomposition. However, most wastewater treatment plants employing chlorination add the chlorine as an aqueous solution through a diffuser at the head of the chlorine contact basin with little or no effective mixing. Before the chlorine stream is mixed throughout the mass of the incoming wastewater under these transport conditions, reactions competing with the disinfection process results in the formation of chloramines, other by-products and a rapid depletion of free chlorine.

In Tables 1 and 2 , inactivation was observed to occur in two rates; that is, the initial rapid kill followed by slower kill. For each applied chlorine dose, the highest inactivation rate was obtained during the first five minutes of contact time, which could be due to the presence of free chlorine residual not yet reacted with chlorine-demanding substances. The subsequent slower kill could possibly be attributed to the formation of less potent combined chlorine residual as a result of reactions between free

FIGURE 2: Effect of mixing after one minute of contact timeFIGURE 3: Effect of mixing after two minutes of contact timeFIGURE 4: Effect of mixing after three minutes of contact time

TECHNICAL PAPER

FIGURE 4FIGURE 3FIGURE 2

chlorine residual and chlo-rine-demanding substances (mainly NH3). Mixing as anoth-er important factor for chlorine disinfection among those that have been well considered to date (i.e. contact time, concen-tration and type of chemical agent, intensity and nature of physical agent, pH, tempera-ture, number of organism, type of organism, age of organism, nature of suspending liquid, and chlorine demand). Longley reveals that rapid mixing of chlorine with wastewater may achieve a required degree of disinfection while using less chlorine. There are mixing devices that ideally should be able to homogenise the chlo-rine solution and wastewater in a fraction of a second.

ConclusionThere is usually greater oppor-tunity to meet standardised E. coli and total coliforms limits for discharging effluent into a water course, at an acceptable cost for chlorine disinfection, when dosage is applied where there is turbulence.

The intensity at which the chlorine dose is mixed with the wastewater effluent during chlorination affects the rate at which E. coli is killed. The higher the intensity of mixing the less chlorine is required. However, the impact is sig-nificant only at lower dosing concentrations. Higher dosing concentrations compensate for the lower turbulent/mixing energy at the dosing point. It could thus be concluded that the inactivation of E. coli as an indicator bacterium is enhanced by increased mixing energy at the point of dosing.

The mixing suggested the importance of the initial disinfection in providing a penetrating power for the free residual chlorine to diffuse into the microorganism clumps, causing the rapid kill during the initial contact period. Therefore bacteria inactivation is quantified as a function of

disinfectant exposure. The benefit of this finding is that it would be possible to achieve the wastewater standard for E. coli at a dosing concentration less than what is required for breakpoint chlorination. Longley reports on a survey of the chlorination facilities of several wastewater treatment plants discharging into San Francisco Bay and found that plants introducing chlorine at a point of turbulence demon-strated consistently higher coliforms removals.

Adequate wastewater treat-ment is important to avoid ineffectiveness of disinfection and, in the design of chlorine contact tanks, the principle concern must be to achieve maximum disinfection efficien-cy with a minimum chlorine residual, which requires rapid initial mixing.

The current conventional methods of chlorine addition do not take advantage of the short time free chlorine is avail-able since there is no mixing at the point of dosage to optimise the chlorine exposure to mi-croorganisms. Chlorine reacts very rapidly at pH values of 6 to 9 and the process is essentially complete in a few seconds, which is why mixing or tur-bulence at dosage is required to make full use of the briefly available free chlorine.

Based on the results of this study, in practice, the current cost of disinfection by chlorine can be reduced by 50% since inactivation can be reached at less than 50% of the chlorine dose required to meet chlorine demand. This will create the possibility of the effluent dis-charged into the water course having nil (0 mg/ℓ) free chlo-rine. Therefore, mixing chlorine at the point of dosage can constitute a new, very efficient method of disinfection.

*This is an edited version of the full paper. Please contact [email protected] for the full article.

TECHNICAL PAPER


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simplerwww.hach.com

PRIOR TO the implementa-tion of the DWF Scheme, the STW was comprised of an inlet pumping station and

balance tank, coarse and fine screens, a detritor, primary settlement tanks, a conventional ASP and biological filter beds, final and humus tanks, and final effluent lagoons. The construction work involves the creation of a new four-lane ASP to replace the existing 16 biological filters. To facilitate this, one of the lagoons and four of the filters are being taken out of service to create space for the new works.

Process optimisation of the new ASP stage will be achieved through imple-mentation of Hach Lange’s Real-Time Control (RTC) system, which monitors influent ammonium concentration and dissolved oxygen concentrations along the aeration lanes, providing more efficient control of the fine bubble diffused aeration. The meas-urement of other quality parameters in the process train provides feedback to the RTC. A reduction of up to 15% energy usage is anticipated as a result. Following completion of the new works, the site will meet the following consent conditions:

• dry weather flow of 30,595 m3/d• sanitary parameters –

BOD•SS•AmmN of 15:30:3 mg/ℓIn addition to the upgrade of the sewage treatment facilities, a third anaerobic digester (AD) is also being built at the Taunton works.

“This will increase our capacity to generate renewable energy and further reduce our electricity bill,” says Garry Orford. “The power generation of the AD plants is fairly stable, but the energy demand of the treatment plant varies accord-ing to the load, so there will be occasions where we can sell energy back to the grid, and others where we will continue to have a power requirement. It is essential therefore that we use this power as efficiently as possible.”

RTC in industrial processes is com-monplace. However, wastewater monitoring represents a greater challenge because of its physical and chemical variability. Historically, wastewater monitoring technology was prone to drift (especially galvanic dissolved oxygen monitors) and required a high level of maintenance, so RTC was not feasible.

Monitoring technologyThe LDO sc dissolved oxygen sensor employs an optical luminescence method for calibration- and drift-free measurements. Once the construc-tion work is complete, there will be four new lanes, each with three zones; so a total of 12 LDO probes will monitor dissolved oxygen. In ad-dition, two Solitax ts-line dip probes will measure mixed liquor suspended solids content in the aeration lanes and the solids content of the returned activated sludge.

Real-Time ControlThe Hach Langer RTC is implemented on an industrial PC that communi-cates with an sc controller network and the local PLC. The RTC system de-termines the most efficient aeration level and continuously feeds DO set points to the PLC, which controls the blowers. This means that under RTC, DO set points are no longer ‘fixed’, instead they ‘float’ according to the load. The RTC modules continuously deliver set points to the PLC, which applies them to the process.

The N-RTC also constantly reads the NH4N concentration at the outlet of the aeration lane. This value provides a feedback control loop and ensures that the DO concentration is fine-tuned to achieve the desired ammo-nium set point at the end of the ASP.

Aeration to achieve the biological oxidation of ammoniacal compounds to nitrate is the most energy-in-tensive process at activated sludge plants because blower power con-sumption can represent over 50% of total costs at some plants. However, in addition to the advantages of the process optimisation system, four new Sulzer high-speed HST-20 turbo compressors are being installed.

Process optimisation by Real-Time ControlWessex Water is investing around £20 million at Taunton sewage treatment works (STW) to improve the facilities for wastewater and sludge treatment.

LEFT Belfour Beatty Regional civil engineering provided the civil worksBELOW Wessex Water has ambitious long-term objectives of carbon neutrality


How does the ERWAT Laboratory ensure that quality and safety are consistently considered?Ensuring consistent quality is paramount to our operation and ERWAT Laboratory is ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited by the South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) and currently has 35 chemical and 8 microbiological methods. Such accreditation contributes positively as follows: • by providing a reliable,

internationally recognised service

• ensuring technical competence of laboratory employees

• improved confidence and control within the laboratory

• a well-documented system with a comprehensive audit trail

• heightened awareness regarding quality.

A typical SANAS accreditation cycle for testing laboratories takes five years wherein assessments are done on an 18-month basis and include two surveillance audits and one re-assessment. A re-assessment visit involves a comprehensive re-examination of the organisation’s accredited activities and will be similar to the initial assessment. SANAS checks for continued compliance with accreditation

requirements during a surveillance assessment.

Ongoing quality activities ensure that the quality requirements and procedures are applied successfully within the ERWAT laboratory. These activities include internal assessments, analysis of ‘unknown’ samples, proficiency testing, certified reference material and quality control samples that total approximately 100 000 per year. Other activities include technical training, maintenance of instrumentation, ensuring a suitable working environment and regular reviewing of documentation.

ERWAT Laboratory’s competent and dedicated team ensures that an effective, efficient service is provided to both internal and external customers.

When it comes to health and safety, we believe a safe environment is vital, especially in a laboratory where various reagents are used for the analysis of potentially toxic samples.

The well-being of our employees is of utmost importance and measures ensuring safety include having competent safety representatives within the laboratory, who report to district management and, ultimately, central safety meetings.

What is the importance of initiatives such as the Blue and Green Drop Certification Programmes to industry?The South African Constitution states that everyone has the right to have access to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being. This includes a constant supply of clean, safe drinking water.

The primary responsibility for the provision of safe drinking water rests with your water services authority (WSA). WSAs have a legal responsibility to:• monitor the quality of drinking

water provided to consumers• compare the results to national

drinking water standards• communicate any health

risks to consumers and appropriate authorities.

Blue and Green Drop Certification, an incentive-based regulatory approach introduced by the Department of Water Affairs, intends to monitor the drinking water quality as well as waste water treatment effluent countrywide.

In recent years, the market has put pressure on industry in general to produce products and services that are increasingly sound in terms of quality, safety and the environment. Maryke Foulds speaks to Alison Chapman, executive manager of laboratories at ERWAT, to discuss some of the most pressing issues.

The South African National Standard 241 Drinking Water Specification is the definitive reference on acceptable limits for drinking water quality in South Africa and provides guideline levels for a range of water quality characteristics.

As an ISO 17025 accredited facility, ERWAT Laboratory Services is providing accredited results to the company’s 19 wastewater treatment works as well as Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and a number of private customers.

Explain the importance of laboratories in the water value chainWater and water-related problems are globally affecting the health of humans and animals and ISO provides global tools to help us manage our shared water resources equitably and durably. Through the application of the ISO 17025 standard, accurate chemical and microbiological results

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Sound practises underpin ERWAT

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can be used with confidence to facilitate sustainable water management, increase water potential and help alleviate water scarcity.

As people are becoming more aware of water quality and related illnesses, it is evident that there is a link between the credibility of quality analysis results and good water quality.

South Africa is a water-scarce country and to ensure proper management of our water, accurate information and credible results are required to determine the quality and therefore assist in preventing environmental pollution.

Tell us more on the recent certification at ERWAT ERWAT Laboratory underwent a surveillance assessment in March 2014 where one new method, turbidity, was added to the 42 accredited methods. Two microbiological and five chemical staff members were assessed as new technical signatories

and ERWAT Laboratory was granted continued ISO 17025 accreditation.

What sort of development and training of laboratory personnel do you have?Competent staff are a valuable asset to the company and a requirement of ISO 17025 is to ensure that staff who operate specific equipment, perform tests, evaluate results and sign test reports are competent. An objective of ERWAT Laboratory is to ‘ensure a high level of competence of staff members to adequately perform their duties’. ERWAT Laboratory staff are trained on technical- and quality-related issues on an ongoing basis, and in accordance with pre-defined schedules. Skills transfer ensures less dependence on supervising staff, maintains a high morale, improves productivity and ensures a safer environment.

Over the past year, training of ERWAT Laboratory staff included:


LABORATORY

• chemical section: 69 employees were trained on 131 determinands

• microbiological section: one person was trained on five methods

• quality section: presented 20 quality-related training sessions and one person declared competent

• client services: four staff members were trained.

In your mind, what is the optimal laboratory layout and design? The layout of ERWAT Laboratory takes into consideration the requirements of the specific test to be undertaken, bench space required for equipment as well requirements for administrative areas, environmental conditions, sample-handling

areas and storage for chemicals and samples, ensuring a suitable, safe and sustainable environment.

It is a requirement of ISO 17025 that the laboratory environment facilitates conditions that do not invalidate results or adversely affect the quality of any measurement and that these conditions must be monitored and controlled.

Some testing environments, such as the microbiology and sludge sections of the laboratory, may be more conducive to microbial growth and thus special techniques and mechanisms are implemented to prevent microorganisms from entering aseptically protected areas.

There is effective separation in the laboratory between areas and incompatible activities to prevent cross-contamination. Continuous checks are done to monitor contamination regarding microbial growth.

Please discuss methods and procedures used for analysis and how they are developed and validated Methods for analysis used in the laboratory are mostly based on international meth-ods. Before introducing any method, it must go through a process of validation, which confirms that specific requirements are fulfilled and the method is fit for use.

How do you ensure that data is properly managed and credible?ISO 17025 specifies that all data shall be subjected to appropriate checks in a systematic manner and that procedures must be in place to ensure that data is protected regarding the integrity and confidentiality during data entry or collection, storage, transmission and data processing.

ERWAT implements a standard operating procedure regarding the manner of storage and discarding of data, storage time, responsible person and locality of storage.

A laboratory information management system was implemented, which, using passwords, allows different levels of access. All results go through a process of verification and reviewing by chemists/microbiologists and then control chemists and microbiologists.

What is the process for acquiring laboratory equipment and its adequate maintenance?Before acquiring any equipment, the laboratory personnel do an evaluation to determine if there is a demand for the specific equipment. This is then budgeted for two to three years in advance, should the purchase demonstrate to be financially viable. Supply chain management policies are then followed to acquire the instrument. There is a scheduled maintenance programme for all equipment in the laboratory, curbing unnecessary analysis interruptions. The laboratory also strives to keep backup instrumentation for continuity where possible.

How do you make sure appropriate chemicals and reagents are used and controlled?It is essential to make use of the appropriate chemicals as specified in the laboratory’s methods. ERWAT Laboratory procures its chemicals from ISO accredited and reputable suppliers. Stock levels are monitored on a continuous basis to ensure the availability of chemicals at all times. Methods are validated using high-quality reagents to reduce the uncertainty of measurement, contributing to the accuracy of results.



SOUTH AFRICA is currently dealing with acid mine drainage because under-neath the old gold mining

city of Johannesburg is a lake that contains heavily contaminated wa-ter, which spreads horizontally and vertically into the abandoned pits of the former gold mines.

Meanwhile, the water line has reached a critically high level, as de-termined by the specialists from the Schwäbisch Gmünd-based company Andritz Ritz, which was given the first order to drain the mine water in 2010.

The execution of the project was delayed by four years however, and it was only in spring 2014 that two powerful submersible motor pumps were installed in the middle of Johannesburg city centre, in the Central Basin, with each pump capa-ble of bringing 1 500 m3 (1.5 million litres) of water to the surface per hour. With 60 million litres of water per day, it’s a never-ending task: “The water never stops flowing,” says engineer Dieter Schmitz. He heads the mining business develop-ment division and has experience in

Dewatering flooded mine tunnels in South Africa

dewatering flooded mine tunnels. It is a problem in all disused mining districts. Even in the Ruhr district, pumps run day and night to drain water from the tunnels. Since 2010, consulting engineering company RWE has gradually replaced existing pump models with the highly effi-cient submersible motor pumps.

In the Ruhr, pure water is drained from the pits. In Johannesburg how-ever, acid mine water is an ongoing problem. Rainwater seeps into the tunnels and reacts chemically with residual minerals like pyrite, produc-ing corrosive sulphuric acids. In the worst-case scenario, this can result in a pH value of 2, which is enough to cause lasting damage to humans and the environment.

Because of this corrosive acid, the Johannesburg pumps had to be

Powerful double-suction submersible motor pumps remove 1.5 million litres of water per day from disused mines in Johannesburg.

Central Basin site, Johannesburg

PIPES, PUMPS AND VALVES

FEATURE

completely redesigned. The design is based on proven heavy duty mining (HDM) technology, which uses the concept of a double-suction pump. The thrusts produced are offset by the counter-rotating arrange-ment of the impellers and the pumps run without axial thrust, giving a properly maintained pump a service life of 10 to 15 years.

The pumps for Johannesburg are a tailor-made, custom-ised design, built for this special individual application. It took one year from the placing of the order for this special construction to its arrival at the test bed for its first trial run. Part of the new system is an encapsulation of the submersi-ble motors. This technology enables the creation of an inter-nal pressure higher than the external pressure, preventing the intrusion of the corrosive water and the components inside the motor being attacked and possibly destroyed. At the same time, the water being drained is used to cool the motor by means of a heat exchanger.

The engineers spent weeks developing the sophisticated technology needed to encapsulate the motor so it could withstand the higher internal pressure. “For us, this system

TOP Customer approval – Andritz Ritz test bed, Schwäbisch Gmünd ABOVE Cutaway view HDM – double-flow submersible pump




is an improvement on our tried and tested HDM technology, which now needs to prove itself,” says Schmitz. This technology also allows them to tap into new markets, because, according to Schmitz, acid water is a huge problem worldwide.

The first two pumps have been running since 26 June 2014. These 21 tonne behemoths, each 15 m long with a 1 m diameter, were installed side by side in March, 5 m apart, but could only be started after completion of the water treat-ment plant. Freely suspended on 430 m long duplex steel pipes, they transport the acid mine water to the surface and onwards into an adja-cent treatment plant. Here, through the addition of lime, the pH value is raised, the acid is neutralised and the heavy metals dissolved in the water are absorbed and precipitated as hydroxides.

The South African authorities are planning a total of three pumping

stations, which will each be devel-oped at the mines’ disused extrac-tion shafts. In addition to the Central Basin in Johannesburg’s city centre, invitations to tender for the Eastern and Western Basins are currently in progress. The long-term goal is to

force the water level in the flooded mines back from its current level of 200 m to a depth of 1 000 m and keep it there, then being able to be-gin mining gold and gold ore in the drained upper layers of the mines once again.

Installation of the pumps in Johannesburg, March 2014 Image directory ANDRITZ Ritz, ‘Acid Mine Drainage’ application


Case studies and thought leadership on new technologies, innovations and best practice in water management

Covering the major developments and application of water management in Southern Africa’s municipal sector and the mining industry.

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT

NEW EB

OOK

Major developments, application of water reuse and

management in Southern Africa’s municipal sector and mining industry.

Technology in engineering and water metering

Water in energy

Water in mining

Water in infrastructure

Water treatment



THIS PROJECT, awarded in November 2012 by the Chris Hani District Council, is part of the greater Xonxa

Dam Transfer Scheme and Bulk Water Supply project initiated by the Chris Hani District Municipality in the Eastern Cape. The project will address the current water supply shortfall within the municipality and open up an urgently needed supply of bulk potable water to indigent areas in and around Queenstown.

Esor’s scope of work includes site clearance for the new pipeline, con-nections to the pump station delivery line intake and reservoir intake, as well as road and river crossings. The route for the pipeline includes two surface sections. One is a 900 m long concrete encased section traversing the base of the hill opposite the Xonxa Dam, with the other portion being only 100 m in length but going over the mountainous rise. This 100 m piece of the pipeline is to be supported on concrete plinths. The difference in elevation from the pump station to the top of the moun-tain section is 400 m static.

Ian Foord, Esor Pipelines’ site agent says, “This is our first project for the Chris Hani District Council and we’re delighted to be partnering with such a progressive and forward-thinking

organisation on an important project like this.”

Special environmental require-ments on the project include demar-cating and ensuring the protection of two very old trees and the pres-ervation of a collection of Bushman paintings on the rock faces near the mountainous section, as well as an ancient Bushman stone tool factory at the summit. Stringent safety proce-dures have ensured that the project recorded more than 253 530 LTI-free hours by mid-March.

Supplementing the Esor core pipe-line project team of 30 skilled person-nel, including operators, coded weld-

ers, foremen and supervisors, are 165 local labourers that have been recruited and trained in vari-ous facets of pipeline construction.

Esor Pipelines operates mainly in

the gas and petrochemical, water, stormwater and sewerage sectors. With specialist expertise in laying and welding steel pipelines as well as in pipeline refurbishment, including mechanical, linings and coatings, the division services both public and pri-vate sector clients. A fully equipped workshop and yard to support fleet maintenance operates on-site at the business unit’s head office.

Currently Esor expects to conclude the project in September 2014.

Xonxa Dam pipeline contract on trackLeading civil engineering and construction group Esor’s Pipelines Division is on schedule to complete the installation of a 22.3 km DN600 cement-mortar-lined steel water pipeline from the Xonxa Dam to Queenstown Water Treatment Works.

FROM ABOVE Esor Pipelines is on schedule to complete the installation of a 22.3 km pipeline from the Xonxa Dam to Queenstown Water Treatment Works The Xonxa pipeline project is part of the greater Xonxa Dam Transfer Scheme and Bulk Water Supply project initiated by the Chris Hani District Municipality in the Eastern Cape

The 22.3 km Xonxa pipeline will run from Xonxa Dam to the Queenstown Water

Treatment Works

The project will address the current water supply shortfall within the municipality


than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, our products have been hand-picked to suit local conditions.

“Since we opened our doors in March 2013, our customer base has expanded rapidly and we’ve recently appointed wholesalers in the Western and Eastern Cape and are in negotiations to set one up in KwaZulu-Natal”

Corde Africa, recently introduced two new product ranges to the local pump market. The first is an expanded range of Evak sewage and drainage pumps. It has also in-troduced a range of Corde borehole motors, manufactured by Sumoto

in Italy, that offer excellent performance and real value for money.

Corde Africa also supplies uPVC borehole pipe columns which have a number of technical advantages over traditional galvanised iron borehole piping, being lightweight, easy to transport and corrosion-re-sistant. The uPVC alternative has the highest specifications in the industry. Its smooth walls ensure water flow at low friction losses, contributing to a high water-to-wire ratio and reduced energy costs, and it is resistant to solids build up.

Industry experience underpins new playerAlthough a relatively new company in the South African pump market, Corde Africa’s operations are underpinned by the more than three decades of industry experience its owners Errol Cornelius and Debby McLellan have invested in the business.

The smooth walls of uPVC borehole pipe columns ensure water flow at low friction losses, contributing to a high water-to-wire ratio and reduced energy costs

CORDE AFRICA was launched with the core ob-jective of providing quality products and services to

customers,” says Cornelius. “The South African pump market is well established and highly competitive, but we’re already differentiating ourselves through the quality of our products, the flexibility of our servic-es and our quick reaction times.”

“Corde Africa is not tied to any particular brand of pump and this allows us to source pumps across a wide variety of suppliers, which are appropriate to the skills levels of both installers and operators. Rather



AS A RESULT of the acqui-sition of Belgium-based Hansen Industrial Trans-missions, by Japan-based

Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Hansen Transmissions South Africa is able to offer industry a much broader in-dustrial gearbox product portfolio. In addition to the Hansen P4 and I4 product ranges, HIT-SA now offers the Paramax range of gearboxes to South African and African markets.

The Paramax range of products, as manufactured by Sumitomo Drive Technologies in Japan and China, is no stranger to the South African market. “In keeping with a transitional agreement, due to ex-pire in early 2015, HIT-SA will focus on new business opportunities in the region, while a long-standing distributor will continue to support established Paramax custom-ers,” says David Main, sales and marketing manager of Hansen Transmissions SA.

Water and sanitationIn addition to the special design elements of the industrial gearbox-es, the HIT-SA service ethic, which supports precision engineering and design to guarantee superior-quality products, is well known and highly respected in the industry. As one of South Africa’s foremost suppliers of drive solutions to industry, local municipalities, mines and govern-ment departments, HIT-SA prides itself on building long-term business

Over four decades of exceptional quality products and serviceHansen Industrial Transmissions South Africa (HIT-SA), an acknowledged and respected supplier of aerator and mixer drives to the local water treatment industry since 1969, continues to be a significant player in the industry. Now HIT-SA has announced the addition of new products to their portfolio.

relationships through the delivery of tailor-made solutions and services. “The water industry is no exception and our long-term business relation-ship in the water treatment sector has secured us an enviable reputa-tion for supplying an exceptionally high-quality product range and im-peccable service,” comments David.

According to Hit-SA MD Fritz Fourie, “We have set the standard for performance in this highly de-manding industry where industrial gearboxes are required to operate around the clock, free of failure.”

New Sales, After SalesAs part of an ongoing restructuring process designed to augment our levels of customer service and business growth, HIT-SA has divided the organisation into two distinct divisions, namely New Sales, re-sponsible for all new business, and After Sales, responsible for spares, repairs and field service. According to David, “This restructure has resulted in a user-friendly customer interface allowing a quick response on technical, sales, commercial and other matters.”

Global infrastructureSumitomo Heavy Industries has restructured its global infrastructure dividing the Drive Technologies division into three global regions, namely EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Asia, including Australasia and the Americas.

In line with global restructuring, HIT-SA continues to stream-line the organisation with specific em-phasis on processes pertaining to order, quality and lead-time management.

Growth in footprint“As part of the global business strat-egy, HIT-SA is looking outside South African borders for opportunities to drive business growth. It is our intention to service the SADC region and further afield – Central, East and West Africa,” says David. “This strategy may include regional part-nerships or investment in branches and service centres.” Large projects across the industry remain a ma-jor focus.

TOP A Hansen P4 water treatment installationABOVE A Hansen P4 aerator drive hard at workBELOW David Main, sales marketing manager



FEATUREPANEL DISCUSSION

Rui CaldeiraTechnical services manager

FIBERPIPE

What specialist technical services does your

company deploy and how are they all coordinated? RC Our technical staff provide engineers with design information and best practice principles. Field staff train contractors at the start of a project and oversee the installation of the pipes, offering advise where needed. This all contributes to a quality installation, which contributes to the life expectancy of the pipeline.

Concerning research and de-velopment, what innovations do you bring to the water and wastewater industry? Fiberpipe manufactures the Flowtite brand of GRP pipe under licence from Flowtite Technologies. They have an R&D department in Norway that is constantly busy with new developments in the market. Over the years, small changes in the design of the pipe and im-provements in the raw materials have managed to increase the design life cycle of Flowtite GRP pipes from 50 to 120 years.

Please tell us about some recent projects and

successes. Were there any challenges, and how were they overcome? One of the advantages of using GRP pipes is that you can easily combine materials and different joining methods. In a recent project, we had to combat a river crossing and with the help of our field representative and the

contractor, we designed a stable crossing on the unstable bed of the river using a combination of the Flowtite and biaxial Vectus range of GRP pipes, using bends and butt welds to ensure a sta-ble installation. Fortunately, the non-corrosive properties for GRP pipes are an added advantage, allowing a long lifespan of the pipes under water.

In another project, we had a client looking for a solution to prevent long-term leak-ages in sewerage manholes. Historically, manholes are made with cement rings and, with the acidic tendencies of sewage, the concrete slowly breaks down and the sewage leaks

into the surround-ing water table through the ring joints. In a joint effort between our Cape Town branch man-ager, Heinrich Mostert and the consulting engineer, they de-signed an integrated pipe and manhole that connects to the sewerage pipe line using the

normal jointing method. In this case it was the Reka Coupling used in the Flowtite pipe.

How will your company’s service and maintenance agreements benefit the proposed project, placing a special emphasis on the quality of the end result? Fortunately GRP pipes are maintenance-free and unless the pipes are damaged prior to installation, the pipeline will outlive the people installing them. Installation is key in this regard and, if the pipes are installed according to our installation guide, no main-tenance will be required. GRP

pipes do not corrode and have a very smooth bore, which

lends to this statement.

What challenging work environments have you en-countered and how did you overcome them? Are there any innovative solutions that you would like to mention especially for rural African conditions? We have recently encountered a project that re-quired a pipeline to be installed through a section of a game reserve, which means that very little to none of the flora could be disturbed. This means that the trucks could not deliver the pipes to the installation point and could not be transported by heavy equipment. Due to the lightweight nature of GRP pipes, these could fortunately be carried by the local community to the installation point, which, in turn, also created jobs for the local community.

LEFT Flowtite and Vectus GRP pipes stored on site BELOW Customised manhole being transported on site. They are made to clients' specifications with Flowtite GRP pipes

GRP pipes are maintenance-free and unless the pipes are damaged prior to installation, the pipeline will outlive the people installing them



Could you give some background on the

company GB In 1991, Group Five Pipes (G5P) designed and built its first steel pipe factory. The factory was built in seven months and set up to make 36 km of 2.4 m and 1.6 m diameter pipes required by the Cape Town City Council. After completing that contract and another small contract for 4 km of 950 mm diameter pipes, the factory was closed because no further pipes were required for the Cape Town area.

What events have shaped where the company is today? There have been numerous events and undertakings that have moulded the company into what it is today:• In 1993, G5P was awarded a

contract to fabricate 35 km of 2.96 m diameter pipes for Rand Water. G5P established a factory at Meyerton.

• In 1994, G5P set up a second Johannesburg pipe-making line to manufacture 2.16 m diameter pipes for the supply of pipes required by Rand Water.

• In 1995, the Cape Town plant was reopened to make 20 km of 1.8 m diameter pipes.

• G5P has been awarded some 70 contracts to make steel pipes and has manufactured some 540 km of pipe using 240 000 t of steel.

• The Meyerton operation has recently been enlarged

Gerald Blackburn General manager, Group Five PipesGROUP FIVE PIPES

to make pipes up to 3.5 m in diameter.

What innovation does G5P bring to the industry? G5P's factories have a quality assurance programme and a computerised pipe record and control system, which has enabled the factories to be listed for quality control in terms of ISO and API.

What are the challenges to the pipe industry at the moment? In addition to designing, building and running pipe factories, G5P is actively involved in research into ways of reducing the cost of pipelines. The biggest cost is that of steel.

When designing pipes, the steel thickness has to be sufficient to withstand the internal pressure from the liquid or gas inside the pipeline. Pipes also have to be designed to carry ground force and movement as well as buried pipeline; its design must consider the pipeline being empty and having a vacuum.

How should you choose your pipe? The controlling factor when selecting wall thickness for a large-diameter pipe is the stability of the pipe walls from a combination of ground forces and internal vacuum. This is offset by making the walls very thick, which will have an impact on the price. Rather than relying

on thick walls, pipe stability can be achieved by using a thinner wall thickness and ‘stiffening’ the pipes at regular intervals along the pipeline.

G5P's design and research covers not only pipe-making equipment, but other areas of pipe manufacture such as the coating and lining of pipes.

In addition to making pipes and building pipe factories, G5P offers a service for the design of the pipes needed for a pipeline. The design takes into account the available steel grades, the cost of steel and the potential savings by using thin-walled pipes fitted with external stiffening rings.

G5P's pipe design offers an economic solution to the selection of pipes for a pipeline, and the company has been able to save considerable costs for clients who have previously had pipeline designs.

What have been some of your most

recent projects?• We have manufactured 8.6 km of 3.5 m diameter thin-walled pipe. Trapezoidal stiffeners hold the support pipes, negating soil pressures and stopping the pipe from buckling inwards if there is a vacuum within. The pipes were 19.2 m long, weighed 16 tonnes each and were polyurethane coated and lined.• We completed two jobs for the

Department of Water Affairs in Limpopo, which required 50 km of 813 mm to 914 mm diameter pipe. The pipes were polyurethane coated and epoxy lined.

• G5P supplied 33 km of 850 mm to 1600 mm pipe to Umgeni Water’s Umshwathi job where we also constructed and maintained three pipe storage yards.

• We fabricated Bituguard-coated pipes to Rand Water’s O6 pipeline, which is a 18.4 km long, 2 132 mm diameter pipe and to WBHO’s Mooi Mgeni pipeline for TCTA, which totals 23 km of pipe ranging from 660 mm to 1 820 mm in diameter.

• We also provided Esor Pipelines, at Lower Thukela in KZN, with 30 km of 914 mm diameter pipe.

TRUSTED PIPELINE PRODUCTS

HEAD OFFICE: 011 906 8000

DURBAN: 031 902 2440

RARE PLASTICS: 016 362 2868

ZAMBIA: 00260 973 417 496

[email protected] I www.rare.co.za

PLASTIC LINING

• Pipeline repair and rehabilitation

• HDPE lining of new and existing steel pipelines

• Suppliers of carbon steel pipes, flanges and fittings• Manufacturers of HDPE pipe. Sizes available from 110mm to 1000mm • PVDF supply and installation• Double containment HDPE piping• Pipeline installations• Cost effective water treatment solutions



Wally van CollerCEO, Rare GroupRARE GROUP

How do your pipes, pumps and valves aid in the

construction of water and wastewater reticulation? WvC The preferred methods to join HDPE pipes are either electro-fusion or butt welding, as this ensures a permanent joint. Rare Plastics manufactures flexible HDPE pipes that are ideal for dolomitic areas, as the flexibility of the pipe and the joint ensure no leaks occur when there is movement in the soil. This butt-welded jointed method can be used across our entire range of 110 mm to 1 000 mm pipes.

What specialist technical services does your company deploy and how are they all coordinated? Rare Plastic Lining offers interference-fit HDPE liners into existing pipelines, thereby extending the life expectancy of that line. Interference fit means the outer diameter of the liner is 10% to15% greater than the inner diameter of the host pipe. The host pipe material can be steel, ductile iron, clay, cement or fibre cement. The lining can be installed in new or used pipelines. Flanged spools can be manufactured, but lengths of 500 m can also be continuously lined using the Rare Plastic Lining process, resulting in pipelines with less joints and a much lower probability to develop leaks. The lining of pipelines can be done in situ, which offers a significant cost advantage.

Additionally, Rare Water Treatment provides water cleaning technology quite new to the Southern African region. Electrochemical water treatment is a cost-effective, low-carbon-footprint process that requires short implementation times with minimal civil preparation. Direct treatment of water with little to no adding of chemicals

is fast becoming a desired pre-treatment option and, in specific cases, a final treatment solution.

Concerning research and development, what innovations do you bring to the water and wastewater industry? Rare Water Treatment does not specialise in basic research and development. Each wastewater stream has its own specific challenges and that is why we have a developmental approach to this industry. The development is aimed to provide our clients with a tailor-made solution.

Apart from efficient basic water disinfection units, Rare Water Treatment provides innovative solutions via variations in electrochemical water treatment. These include:• electro-coagulation• electro-reduction• electro-flocculation• electro-aeration• electro-flotation.The most exciting recent developments have been the industrial applications of advance oxidation potential with non-sacrificial mixed metal oxide electrodes.

Please tell us about some recent projects and successes. Any challenges and how this was overcome? Rare Water Treatment has made good progress with an electrochemical process that can remove metals from acid mine water while simultaneously reducing the sulphate content. The advantages are:• low operating cost• green technology with low

power requirements• small footprint with minimal

civil requirements• fast implementation.The clear fluid from this operation yields an ideal feed for final adjustment or polishing via reverse osmosis and ultra-

filtration processes with lower osmotic pressures.

A trial is currently implemented at a major coal mine over a three-month period and the expected success here will provide mines an innovative pre-treatment or final treatment solution for metal- and sulphate-rich wastewater.

How will your company’s service and maintenance agreements benefit the proposed project placing a special emphasis on the quality of the end result? Rare Water Treatment provides a ‘build, operate and maintain’ solution where the client enters into a service agreement to pay for treated water and the client can then focus on the core competencies of its main business.

On fully purchased transactions, we will provide a full service on the technology and electrode maintenance/replacement if required.

What challenging work environments have you encountered and how have you overcome these? Rare Pipeline Services are also involved in Ghana and Zambia. Metal contamination is a problem along most rivers near

mining operations. Via the relationship with our plastic

lining services at many mines, water treatment opportunities are discovered. We are working with the European Union to implement solar-driven water treatment units along rivers to produce drinking water of acceptable international standards.

In one innovative case, the sludge produced from a copper- and cobalt-contaminated waste stream was sold, offsetting the capital and operational costs of our electro-coagulation solution.

What specialties does your company bring to operating efficiencies in the water sector? Electrochemical water treatment has inherent efficiencies such as:• The process is absolutely

scalable. No big, upfront investments in unused capacity.

• Sustainable solutions since power requirements are low.

• No undesired ‘spectator’ chemicals.

• Fast and flexible implementation with fast, redeployable solutions.

• Easy operation.• Solutions are remotely

monitored and operational intervention can take place.

RIGHT A containerised advance oxidation potential plant is prepared to be shipped to AfricaBELOW This existing pipeline is being prepared to be lined in situ with HDPE liners, offering a significant cost advantage


How do your pipes aid in the construction of water and wastewater reticulation? SLR & JK Rocla’s main focus within the water and wastewater reticulation sphere is on buried conduits and their various supporting components. While many of the products that Rocla manufactures are fairly standard in the industry, Rocla strives towards giving excellent service in terms of technical advice in the run-up to the sale of products and after-sales support.

Rocla also strives towards simplifying processes within the construction industry to


minimise on-site work and overall construction costs. As an example, a typical wing-wall installation would take anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes depending on the size and complexity of the installation, with alternate in-situ options taking anywhere from one to three weeks, depending on the same factors.

What specialist technical services does your company deploy and how are they all coordinated? Rocla prides itself on being able to not only accommodate requests for bespoke products through manufacturing, but also

innovations do you bring to the water and wastewater

industry? Rocla has been in the industry for 97 years and the company has subsequently been involved with many innovations that are considered to be the norm within the piping industry. These include CAC linings on spun pipes and HDPE linings on vertically cast pipes.

How will your company’s service and maintenance agreements benefit the proposed project placing a special emphasis on the quality of the end result? As precast concrete product suppliers, Rocla does not have specific service or maintenance agreements in place. We do, however, pride ourselves in the fact that we provide quality products and excellent service, and are known to stand by our products should anything go wrong.

Servaas Le RouxCivil engineerJustin KretzmarSales engineer

ROCLA

through design. This implies that Rocla is able to take design responsibility for large bespoke projects and thereby fast-track the design phase of projects.

Such projects include mine vehicle crossings, stockpile tunnels and inverted culvert channels for industrial sites.

In the same way that Rocla approaches bespoke projects, the company has, in the past three years, initiated a few ranges of products that are now marketed as part of the standard range.

Some of these products are rainwater harvesting tanks, an oil and petrochemical separator system, pipe and culvert wing walls, Rebloc barriers and Alfabloc retaining wall blocks.

Concerning research and development, what

FAR LEFT Ecorain water harvesting tanksLEFT Culvert wing wallBELOW Pipes on siteOPPOSITE Invert culvert channel


What challenging work environments have you encountered and how have you overcome these? Over the past six months, Rocla has been involved with the design and manufacture of various inverted culvert applications. An inverted culvert system presents the end user of the system with the opportunity of cleaning it from the top and is, as such, an excellent way of dealing with stormwater in industrial or rural areas. There are, however, design issues to consider.

The vertical and horizontal vehicle loads of an inverted culvert installation are not dampened through fill material as is the case with a typical installation. The subsequent bending moments and shear forces are thus much higher. The

model that has to be set up for such an installation is much more complex than for a typical installation.

What specialties does you company bring to operating efficiencies in the water sector? Rocla products can be used for fresh water supply, wastewater disposal, jacking installation (in order not to disturb traffic flow) and many other precast concrete products that supplement the afore-mentioned. A relatively new innovation is the use of precast concrete elements to create rainwater attenuation and harvesting systems. These systems are being prescribed on new housing developments and seem certain to become a standardised commodity in future.

The model that has to be set up for such an installation is much more complex than for a typical installation

Tel: 011 670 7600 | www.rocla.co.za

Rocla is a subsidiary of ISG, a leading supplier of innovative infrastructure products to the construction and mining markets in Southern Africa.

ISO 9001: 2008 certifi edSABS mark on applicable products

Where time-critical installations of culvert crossings are required, then the ROCLA Precast Culvert Base Slab is an ideal solution. It is designed and manufactured to suit the ROCLA Precast Concrete Portal culverts and is profi led to suit these specifi c types of culvert which complete most projects.

ROCLA is Southern Africa’s leading manufacturer of pre-cast concrete products for infrastructure, including pipes, culverts, manholes, roadside furniture, retaining walls, stock troughs, poles and other related products.

Concrete Culverts

A strong foundation for infrastructure success


Tel: +27 11 971 0400 | Fax: +27 11 394 3436 | www.improchem.co.zaHead Office 1 Pinelands Hill Business Park, Maxwell Drive, Founders Hill, Gauteng 1645

Potatech®+ Intermediate Portable Water Quality Laboratory

The single incubator version of the Potalab® + advanced level test kit, the Potatech® + features a complete set of digital instruments but remains lightweight and extremely portable for rural and remote water monitoring.

Wagtech Incubator with standard test protocols and audible prompts, petri dish racks, high performance Lead Acid battery with capacity for at least 5 cycles per charge, mains charger with international adaptors, vehicle socket battery power lead, crocodile clip power leads;

Membrane Filtration assembly, bronze disc, pistol grip vacuum pump with no-kink silicone tubing, 5 Media Measuring Devices (MMDs), 38.1g Membrane Lauryl Sulphate Broth, 5 Pasteur pipettes, hand lens, forceps, 20 Aluminium re-usable petri dishes, 200 sterilised and sealed membrane filters, 200 absorbent pads, absorbentpad dispenser, steel sampling cup, sampling able

Polypropylene 250ml beaker, quick start promptcards, sterilisable integrated work surface

Photometer 7100 and light cap, 6 photometercuvettes, photometer reagents for 200 tests for Free and Total Chlorine, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate

Compact Turbimeter, SD VB calibration standards, 4 Compact Turbimeter sample cuvettes, silicone oil, cleaning/oiling cloth

Pocket pH Sensor and pH calibration buffers

Pocket Conductivity Sensor with conductivity calibration standard

Cuvette brush, 2 Dilution tubes, crush/stir rods, De-ion pack, instructions

The Potatech® + is an ideal resource for the testing of water quality in rural communities and is supported by a full range of consumables and technical advice.

Portable Green Drop Monitoring Kit

A portable test kit comprising simple-to-use hand-held instrumentation, ideal for ensuring compliance in line with the Green Drop Certification program.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONSMULTIPARAMETER 7500 PHOTOMETERParameters Measured Over 100 parameters and

methods availableUser interface On-screen prompts available in

English, French, Spanish, Italian and German

Results Units g/l, mg/l, ppm, mmol/l, μmol/lTest Cuvettes Automatic centering for cylindrical

cuvettes from 12 – 20mm OD

PALINTEST 800 MULTIPARAMETER METERTest Range pH -2 to 16 Conductivity 0-199mS

(Autoranging) TDS 0-199.9ppt (Autoranging) Temperature 0-100˚CAccuracy pH ± 0.01 Conductivity ± 1% (full scale) + 1 LSD TDS ± 1% (full scale) + 1 LSD Temperature ± 0.3˚C

MICRO 600 DISSOLVED OXYGEN METERTest Range 0 – 19.99mg/l (0-100% saturation)Accuracy ± 1.5% (full scale)

PTH 8100 Green Drop KitKit Contents

Multiparameter Photometer

Palintest 800 Multiparameter meter

Micro 600 Dissolved Oxygen meter

All the accessories required including USB lead, glass cuvettes, sample container, 10ml syringe, test tube brush and crush rods.

Calibration solutions for pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen.

All supplied in a hard case with reagents for 50 Nitrate, Nitrite, Phosphate and Ammonia tests and space for more.

Portable Blue Drop Monitoring Kit

A Blue Drop test kit for SANS 0241 compliance testing anywhere from catchment to consumer.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONSCOMPACT CHLOROMETER Test Range 0-5 mg/lAccuracy ± 0.1 @1mg/lWavelength 530nm

PALINTEST 800 MULTIPARAMETER METERTest Range pH -2 to 16 Conductivity 0-199mS TDS 0-199.9ppt Temperature 0-100˚CAccuracy pH ± 0.01 Conductivity ±1% (full scale) +

1 LSD TDS ± 1% (full scale) + 1 LSD Temperature ± 0.3˚C

COMPACT TURBIMETER Test Range 0 – 1050 NTU (or FAU)Accuracy 2% of reading Measuring System QuadoptiX™

measurement at 860nm (ISO 7027 compliant)

PTH 8099 Blue Drop KitKit Contents

Compact Chlorometer Photometer

Palintest 800 Multiparameter meter

Compact Turbimeter

All the accessories required including 5 glass cuvettes, sample container , 10ml syringe, test tube brush , crush rods, instruction manual, a pack for creating de-ionised water, Silicone Oil and Chlorometer Check Standards.

Calibration solutions for pH, conductivity and turbidity (SDVB) All supplied in a hard case with reagents for 100 Free and 100 Total Chlorine tests.


PROFILE

PART OF THE successful Halma PLC group since 1983, Palintest traces its roots back to the 1870s,

with the Wilkinson & Simpson manu-facturing facility in Newcastle, UK.

Over the past five years, Palintest has launched unique sensor tech-nology devices for monitoring dis-infectants that remove the need for sample preparation or the addition of reagents, and designed a new portable Turbidity and TSS meter that uses patented Palintest technology to deliver unparalleled accuracy and reliability. The company has also ac-quired Wagtech, supplying portable drinking water safety test kits in wide-spread use throughout the world; the preferred choice of all leading UN organisations in the WASH sector.

The next big move for Palintest is to increase its reach throughout Africa, in partnership with Improchem, which already has companies throughout the continent and is capable of providing the best support possible for all water quality monitoring requirements.

The Palintest product range com-prises muti-parameter photometers, chemical reagents, electrochemical meters, in addition to the following product highlights:

Palintest Blue Drop kitA Blue Drop test kit for SANS 0241 compliance testing anywhere from catchment to consumer.

This portable kit consists of simple-to-use hand-held instrumentation ideal for routine drinking water mon-itoring and compliance with the Blue Drop Certification Programme. This kit has been well received within the market place and sales continue to grow. Ease of use, reliability and tech-nical support from both Improchem and Palintest have been the reasons why customers are using these kits. The key features include:

• advanced turbidity/total suspend-ed solids turbidimeter, using the Palintest QuadoptiX measurement system for accurate and stable tur-bidity readings

• reliable chlorine (free and total) measurement system using the in-ternational standard method (DPD) developed by Dr Palin

• rapid measurement for pH and con-ductivity with robust probes.

Palintest Green Drop kitA portable test kit comprising simple-to-use handheld instrumentation, ide-al for ensuring compliance with the Green Drop Certification Programme.

Designed to aid operational moni-toring, the kit can also be customised by selecting from 100 additional Palintest parameters for use with the Photometer 7500.

The key features include:• Customisable photometer for in situ

and rapid measurements of phos-phate, nitrate and ammonia, using Palintest test methods.

• Waterproof and robust electrochem-ical meters for measuring critical wa-ter quality parameters including pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen.

Portable turbidity and TSS meterThe measurement of turbidity as-sumes a pivotal role in a wide number of applications and as a result it is the most common measurement used in qualitative assessments of water suitability.

The Palintest compact turbidity meter utilises a unique and patented Quadoptix optical bench system to generate unparalleled accuracy for a hand-held device, and an intuitive on-screen menu structure and simple test protocol combine to allow for effortless and reliable turbidity read-ings, whatever the application. The key benefits include: • ISO 7027 certification

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Wagtech potable water test kitsIn 2011, Palintest acquired the Wagtech brand of water test kits, which for over 20 years have been the preferred supplier to UN organisations and NGOs operating in the WASH sector. Wagtech kits are designed spe-cifically for potable water monitoring in remote locations where access to fixed-site laboratories is not available.

The Wagtech brand includes combined microbiological and physico-chemical test kits designed to cover the complete range of tests needed to determine the quality of drinking water sources according to WHO guidelines. Variations of the kits include:• Potalab – twin incubator, advanced

microbiological and physic-chemical test kit

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• Potatest – single incubator, emer-gency response test kit.With its impressive product range, which has proved to be an invaluable asset to potable water quality monitoring across Africa, Palintest is determined to expand its African footprint even further in order to make safe drinking water a reality for as many people as possible. Palintest and Improchem, as industry leaders, have a responsibility to assist in creating a cleaner future for drinking water across the African continent.

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Growth through excellencePalintest, a leader in the manufacture of water testing instruments, kits and chemical reagents, is growing its presence across Africa in partnership with Improchem , part of the Speciality Chemicals Cluster of AECI. By Mark Titus

Mark Titus, Regional Sales Manager, Palintest Products


WATER INFRASTRUC TURE

SINCE 2008, the metro has experienced a num-ber of years of severe drought conditions.

The Nooitgedagt Water Treatment Works (WTW) receives its raw water from the Gariep Dam, which is situ-ated on the Free State-Eastern Cape border and therefore not affected by local droughts.

BackgroundThe Nooitgedagt WTW is sited on the right bank of the Sundays River and is supplied with raw water from the Scheepersvlakte Balancing Dam on the left bank, via some 9.1 km of 1 470 mm diameter gravity pipeline.

The WTW was originally planned to have four phases, each with a treat-ment capacity of 70 Mℓ per day, giving a total treatment capacity of 280 Mℓ per day.

During 1993, the first phase (now known as the High Level Scheme) of the Nooitgedagt WTW was completed with a capacity of 70 Mℓ/day (with 20% hydraulic peak capacity, 84 Mℓ/day). During 2008, two additional Pulsator clarifiers were built but only one was equipped and made operational. This increased the treatment capacity of the WTW to a peak of some 100 Mℓ/day. At this flow, however, the existing

six filters are operated on overload.The Water Master Plan 2006 (WMP),

adopted by the NMBMM Mayoral Committee on 22 August 2007, took into account the findings and recom-mendations made by various previous DWAF studies. This WMP recommend-ed that, to augment the future bulk water supply to the NMBMM, the water supply from the Orange River Supply Scheme (ORSS) shall be an increased by extending the present Sundays River Supply Scheme.

Originally, in 1990, the gravity pipeline from Scheepersvlakte Dam was sized on an average daily transfer capacity of 280 Mℓ/day (based on the assumption that some 50% of the 568 Mℓ/day provided for Port Elizabeth, by the 1971 White Paper: Orange River Development Project, would in the long term still be allo-cated to the NMBMM). However this allocation was reduced in the latest DWAF and NMBMM study, which recommended that the NMBMM must apply for an amended water licence for abstraction of water from the ORSS, increasing its present registered water use of 17.0 million m3/a (46.6 Mℓ/day) to 58.3 million m3/a – which equates to an average of 160 Mℓ/day. This is the capacity on which the design of the proposed Nooitgedagt WTW upgrade and the Low Level Scheme are based.

The proposed extension forms part of the Nooitgedagt/Coega Low Level Scheme and consists of the following main elements:• extension of the Nooitgedagt WTW

from present average capacity of 70 Mℓ/d (peak 91 Mℓ/d) to an average capacity of 160 Mℓ/d (peak 210 Mℓ/d).

• a low-lift pump station and rising main (1.2 m diameter by 19.1 km) sized for a transfer capacity of 120 Mℓ/day at a pumping head of 122 m. The pipeline will follow the high-lift pipeline route until some 3.6 km from Nooitgedagt and then turn east on a new route to Olifantskop some 15.5 km away

Supply assured with Nooitgedacht Water Treatment Works

Additional supply sources are urgently required to meet the growing water demands of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBMM). Maryke Foulds looks at the background of this project, as well as some of its highlights and challenges.

ABOVE Lifting reservoir pre-cast roof beamsBELOW Olifantskop reservoir wall second lift



• balancing storage constructed on the farm Olifantskop

• a 1.4 m diameter gravity pipeline to the Coega IDZ boundary for the future main off-take point into the IDZ. From here the pipeline, reduced to 1.2 m in diameter, will be routed along existing farm boundaries and road reserves until it meets the pres-ent 800 mm diameter pipeline off-take from the Grassridge/Motherwell pipeline to Coega Kop reservoir. A new off-take from this Olifantskop gravity pipeline will feed water into the existing 800 mm pipeline to Coegakop reservoir. From this point, a 1 m diameter by 4.2 km long pipe-line will follow the same route and servitude as the present 1.1 m diame-ter by 18.7 km Grassridge pipeline to the Motherwell reservoir.The Low-Level Scheme is so termed

because the water will be pumped to the Olifantskop reservoir, which is at an elevation 90 m below that of the existing Grassridge reservoir. The Low-Level Scheme will augment the

existing High-Level Scheme by an additional 90 Mℓ per day. The scope of the work includes civil, mechan-ical and electrical work for the new low-level pump station and to up-grade the capacity of the Nooitgedagt WTW by an additional 90 Mℓ per day. It also includes upgrading the electrical transformer and switchgear at the WTW, construction of bulk pumping and gravity water pipelines between the WTW and Coega/Motherwell, construction of a 10 Mℓ and a 45 Mℓ reservoir at Olifantskop. Finally, civil, electrical and mechanical works for new booster pump stations at Motherwell and Bloemendal, to allow for transfer of water from Nooitgedagt to the western parts of the metro, will also be included.

The estimated total project cost of the Low-Level Scheme is estimated to be in the region of R747 million. NMBMM does not have the fund-ing for the project and therefore approached National Treasury to fund it as part of the emergency

drought relief funding of R1.6 billion applied for. To date, DWAF has committed to providing R450 million, undertaking to provide an additional R123 million for the first phase. Talks are currently being held between DWAF and NMBMM regarding the balance of funding needed.

Fitting into the existing facilityThe original treatment process com-prises the following:

The raw water supply from the Scheepersvlakte Balancing Dam

Sludge pipelines


passes through a strainer and then to the flash mixer structure. The flow rate is controlled at the entry to the flash mixer and the flow is then split into four separate streams. The primary coagulant for the removal of suspended solids is added to the turbulent mixing chamber. Provision for polyelectrolyte dosing has been made, should it become necessary.

Clarification takes place in four 320 m2 vertical upward-flow Pulsator-type clarifiers. The clarifiers are fitted with inclined plate settlers near the surface to improve their settling effi-ciency. The sludge produced by the solids separation process is conveyed to the sludge ponds. The clarified wa-ter is filtered through six 70 m2 rapid gravity sand Filters. The filtered water is collected in the lower filter gallery, where it is transferred to a 3 Mℓ clear well, constructed underground below the filter block. Backwashing of the filters is performed by pumped water from the clear well in combination with pressurised air scouring. The backwash wastewater is conveyed under gravity to the backwash balancing tank.

Chlorine-dosing disinfection facil-ities are provided after filtration in the clear well. Pre-chlorination in the clarifiers, and before filtration, is carried out to discourage algae growth in the process.

The sludge from the clarifiers is han-dled in 23 sludge ponds. Water is distributed by the final pump station

into the rising main to the Grassridge reservoir. Three high-lift double-stage 900 kW centrifugal pumps have been installed in the building with a fourth plinth for future installation.

Originally the extension to the WTW was to be implemented under one phase. Tenders were called for during May and June 2010 but could not be awarded at the time due to lack of sufficient funding.

First phase (2011)The project is now being implement-ed in phases. The first phase, which commenced in 2011, saw the upgrad-ing of the sludge-handling system, construction of additional sludge lagoons, construction of a return-flow pump station, refurbishment of the mechanical and electrical compo-nents of the backwash balancing tank and one Pulsator-type clarifier was equipped and made operational.

A cross-connection between the ex-isting and new rising main at the ex-isting high-level pump station at the Nooitgedagt WTW was constructed to allow two pumps to deliver water through the High-Level Scheme and two pumps to deliver water via the Low-Level Scheme.

Second phase (current/tendering)This phase is intended to increase capacity from 84 Mℓ/day to 130 Mℓ/day in 18 months.Construction activities:• construction and commissioning of

six additional filters on the western side (no clear well required). The additional filters would prevent the existing ones from operating at overload. The new filters will be con-structed adjacent the existing ones

• construction of the low-level pump station. A cross-connection from the High-Level Scheme feeds water into the Low-Level Scheme rising main. This is an interim measure until the low-level pump station has been constructed

• refurbishment of the existing admin-istration building

• refurbishment and replacing of me-chanical and electrical components of the existing six filters

• upgrading of the ferric chloride dosing system, including new dosing pumps, pipework, valves, instrumen-tation and dilution weirs.

• upgrading of the chlorine-dosing system including new lifting equip-ment, chlorine drum stands, dosing equipment and associated pipework, leak detection and isolation system

• upgrading of instrumentation for better plant monitoring and control

• upgrading of the SCADA system by specialised nominated subcontractor.

Third phase (future) This final phase should increase capac-ity from 130 Mℓ/day to 160 Mℓ/day in 24 months.Construction activities:• construction of one additional

flash mixer• construction of two

additional clarifiers• construction of six additional filters

on the eastern side, which includes a clear well

• construction of one additional backwash balancing tank

• interlinking pipework.As for the Olifantskop reservoirs, the first 10 Mℓ reservoir is under construc-tion, with completion expected by October 2014, and a 45 Mℓ reservoir is to be tendered before the end of the year.

Finally, with regards to the low-level pipelines, the rising main from Nooitgedacht WTW to Olifantskop reservoir has been completed and commissioned, while the gravity main from Olifantskop to Motherwell reservoir and Coega IDZ is being commissioned.

New equipment utilised Afri-Coast Engineers designed a unique, automated self-cleaning raw water strainer for the Nooitgedagt WTW that replaced the original strain-er. The strainer removes large solids, fish and weeds that may be present in the water. The old strainer required the WTW to be shut down for a day every three months or so to allow for manual cleaning. The new strainer is self-cleaning, a process that takes approximately 15 minutes. Manual cleaning and inspection is now limited to approximately once every 12 months.

Project challengesAs with any civil project of this magnitude, there are many chal-lenges that present themselves. The

Sludge pump station

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Nooidgedacht WTW has already faced a number of challenges with many more lying in wait. Some of the more significant challenges facing the civil contractor include:• The existing treatment works is a

critical component of the bulk water supply to the metro and must be kept operational at all times. Window periods for planned shutdowns will be agreed with the NMBMM and may actually have to be aborted or post-poned at short notice depending on the operation of the entire bulk water supply system to the metro pre-vailing at the time. Shutdowns may have to take place outside of normal working hours.

• The civil and mechanical contractors will be required to work in close liaison with each other, especially for the construction of the filters. The civil contractor will be required to receive, from the mechanical con-tractor, certain items to be cast into concrete walls and floors.

• The filter floors will be constructed by the civil contractor under the direct supervision of the mechanical con-tractor. This is a critical component of the work with fine tolerances and must be done correctly.

• Special care must be taken to prevent pollution or fouling of the existing filters during construction.

• The existing roof sheets contain asbestos. All legal requirements and health and safety precautions must be strictly adhered to. Material con-taining asbestos must be disposed of at the EnviroServ hazardous waste disposal site. Cost of disposal is to be included in the rates. Proof of dispos-al will be required.

• Roof sheets removed must be replaced with new steel sheeting before end of day. Roofs may not be left open overnight or on non-work-ing days. The roof to the existing transformer building is a priority and must be replaced as early as possible.

• Work to replace roofs may not be done during times of inclement weather and high winds.

• Access to the treatment works must be maintained at all times. Chemicals are delivered in tankers on a regular basis and these cannot be impeded.

• A separate contract for the supply and installation of pumping and electrical equipment for the low-lift pump station will be let. The civil con-tractor will be required to complete the pump station building, including the installation of the gantry crane, before installation of the pumps and equipment can commence. Any costs associated with delays caused by the civil contractor will be for the civil contractor’s account.

Treatment and service areaThe Nooitgedagt WTW receives raw water from the Orange River, through 400 km of canals and tunnels that supply Scheepersvlakte Balancing Dam, located adjacent to the Sundays River. A 1 400 mm diameter gravity pipeline supplies raw water from Scheepersvlakte Dam to the WTW. The pipeline is sized for a daily capacity of 280 Mℓ/day. The Nooitgedagt WTW is intended to have an ultimate ca-pacity to treat daily average water of approximately 200 Mℓ/day. However, the existing second phase and future third phase extensions are intended to increase the current 84 Mℓ/day

treatment capacity to 160 Mℓ/day. Water supplied from Nooitgedagt WTW will be available to the whole of Port Elizabeth via the Motherwell reservoir, and the Motherwell and Bloemendal booster pump stations

Treatment capacity of the works?The recommendation was made to in-crease the capacity of the Nooitgedagt WTW from 90 Mℓ/day to 160 Mℓ/day.Capacity of existing infrastructure:• Pulsators = 105 Mℓ/day• Filters = 84 Mℓ/d• Ferrifloc storage and dosing =

140 Mℓ/d• Chlorine storage and dosing =

140 Mℓ/d• Backwash facilities = 140 Mℓ/d• Sludge drying ponds = 70 Mℓ/d• Power supply = 500 KVA

Technology suppliers and products Investigations into the use of ultra-sonic equipment in the pulsators to control algal growth are being undertaken. The use of UV for bacteria control between the pulsators and filters is also under investigation. Pilot installations for both these technol-ogies will be included in the second phase of the upgrade.

Sludge ponds construction





THIS IS A proud accomplish-ment for the municipality as it will increase its service delivery to the town of

Wellington and it creates the capac-ity for the town to expand and de-velop. Mayor Gesie van Deventer of Wellington pointed out that water is essential to life and clean water provides for a healthy environment. The new sewerage pump station will significantly improve the health of the environment and community of Wellington, putting an end to past problems.

The overflow of sewage at the old Pentz Street pumping station creat-ed problems for the municipality for

many years. It was identified that the ingress of stormwater and rainfall into the sewer system was the main contributor to the high peak flows experienced during high-rainfall events. Various studies were un-dertaken to implement mitigation measures, but unfortunately imple-mentation was unsuccessful and the high ingress of water and peak flows continued. This resulted in sewage overflowing into the lower-lying homes a number of times per year. Sewage eventually found its way into the Berg River, which caused high levels of pollution and created a health hazard that threatened the export fruit market and the entire

agriculture sector relying on Berg River water.

The Drakenstein Local Municipality appointed Neil Lyners & Associates to investigate the problem and make recommendations to address it.

The new pumping station is de-signed to last 50 years and handle an eventual effluent inflow of 1 150 m³/s. Two pumps are currently installed, though four will be re-quired to cope with the eventual inflow. The two current pumps are sufficient at present and, as they can handle the inflow for the foreseeable future, save costs. The pumps will pump the effluent from the pumping station to the Wellington wastewater treatment works (WWTW) via two 600 mm diameter rising mains.

The Pentz Street pumping station forms part of a greater integrated wastewater treatment system in Paarl and Wellington. Flow from the Wellington WWTW can be diverted to the Paarl WWTW and vice versa, should flows to either works increase or if flow to one of the works must be reduced for maintenance pur-poses. A future WWTW is planned for Paarl South and, similarly, flows to this new works could be diverted in future to the Paarl WWTW or effec-tively also to the Wellington WWTW. This redundancy is required to re-duce the risk of sewage overflowing into the Berg River.

The civil and structural contract commenced on 27 November 2011

Meaningful infrastructure investmentThe Drakenstein Local Municipality opened the new Pentz Street sewerage pump station in Wellington, with a capital investment of R63 million.

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Meaningful infrastructure investmentand was done in two phases. Phase 1 took nine months and Phase 2, one month. The mechanical and electrical contract was done between the two phases. Phase 2 consisted of the site works around the building (completion of the dams, paving, access roads and fencing).

The surrounding community has been kept up to date with the project and the impact of the construction since the inception of the project, via the councillor, public meetings and letters to the residents.

The agricultural sector, through the irrigation board, which pre-viously raised many concerns relating to the performance of the pumping station, was informed of the extent of the project and its progress. This tremendously improved the relationship between the Drakenstein Local Municipality, the agricultural sector and other role players concerned with water quality of the Berg River, and fostered a spirit of cooperation.

During the construction period, the number of job opportunities created for the broader local community ranged from 23 to 42. The jobs ranged from general workers, semi-skilled workers, arti-sans and operators.

Infrastructure upgrading and development is key in the devel-opment and growth of every municipality. The Drakenstein Local Municipality continues to invest in the development of its towns to create the best opportunities and excellent services for its resi-dents. The completion of this pump station is just one example of our commitment to service delivery and striving towards a place of excellence. It brings the municipality one step closer to achiev-

ing Green Drop status.Landscaping and beautification will

be done soon in consultation with the Wellington Beautification Committee.

Van Deventer explained that Wellington is an important component of the Drakenstein economy and when the present upgrading of the adjacent Stokeryweg, with an investment of R32 million is completed, the sur-rounding area should see much more economic activity. She thanked the residents in the surrounding areas for their patience and cooperation during this process.

BELOW From left to right – Deon Louw, Drakenstein executive manager for infrastructure services; Johann Mettler, Drakenstein municipal manager; Gesie van Deventer, executive mayor; Councillor Albertus Buckle; Johan Rademeyer, MAYCO member and Ronald Brown, senior engineer: waste services


Accurate flow measurement for partially filled pipes? The TIDALFLUX 2300 F from KROHNE has got you covered.Backed by over 90 years of expertise in flow measurement, there’s a KROHNE meter for every job. The TIDALFLUX 2300 F reliably measures flows in pipes filled to between 10 % and 100 % of their inner diameter.

Even fat and oil floating on the surface are not a problem for the TIDALFLUX 2300 F – its capacitive sensors are integrated into the liner and are never in direct contact with the liquid. Featuring a sturdy polyurethane lining, the TIDALFLUX 2300 F is also perfect for demanding wastewater environments. Ex approvals to ATEX and IECex Zone 1 are available as an option.

When a rugged job demands a high degree of precision, the TIDALFLUX 2300 F performs and never quits.

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Sensitive but strong

BRINGING THE NEXT level of technology to the local market, Krohne introduces the OPTISYS SLM 2100 optical measuring system. It allows for reliable tracking of sedimentation layers in indus-

trial and municipal applications, as well as sludge blanket measurement in clarifiers and sludge thickeners in sewage treatment plants.

OPTISYS SLM 2100 is the successor of the OPTISENS OAM 2080 sludge blanket measuring system, but has been com-pletely re-engineered to extend its area of application to sedimentation processes. It uses an optical suspended solids sensor, which is submerged into the basin. Unlike ultrason-

ic-based sludge level meters, the optical measuring principle is not subject to echo returns from walls or separating zones, as well as signal damping by fluff or floating sludge.

The OPTISYS SLM 2100 is the first sedimentation measuring system to offer three measuring modes: measurement of sed-imentation profile, two-zone monitoring and zone-tracking. For sedimentation profile measurement, the system directly measures the suspended solids concentration at all heights as the sensor travels through all layers of the medium. The two-zone monitoring feature enables it to monitor the heights of two predefined concentrations, e.g. fluff and sludge. It can be used to prevent sludge washout into the next stage.

OPTISYS SLM 2100

PRODUC T NEWS

Pinning down the sedimentation processA new optical measuring system for sedimentation profile measurement and continuous tracking of sludge blanket has made its way onto the South African market.

OPTISYS SLM 2100 is the successor of the OPTISENS OAM 2080 sludge blanket measuring system, but has been completely re-engineered


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PRODUC T NEWS

For continuous level measurement of a predefined concen-tration, also known as zone-tracking, the optical sensor moves within the medium until it detects the concentration and follows or tracks this zone continuously. This can be used, for example, to monitor the change of the sludge blanket level when depumping the sludge. Here, OPTISYS SLM 2100 can re-place two measurements commonly used in this application: with an ultrasonic level meter, disturbances of sludge blanket can lead to false measurements or even loss of signal for the ultrasonic device. To compensate for this, an additional tur-bidity measurement is installed in the depumping line. Both can be replaced by the new OPTISYS SLM 2100.

The integrated signal converter of the OPTISYS SLM 2100 is the well-known MAC 100 multiparameter converter for analyt-ical measuring devices. It shares the same operating concept as Krohne’s flow and level signal converters and thus supports quick familiarisation. Krohne is the only measuring-instru-ments manufacturer to offer a common operating concept for both physical and analytical parameters.

OPTISYS SLM 2100 has two 4 mA to 20 mA outputs that communicate height and concentration according to the selected measuring mode. Inputs include a rake-guard switch that protects the sensor from being caught by the rake. Maintenance mode and interim measurements can be started remotely via digital inputs.

Both sensor and housing are made of stainless steel. The protection rating IP54 housing has a built-in fan to cool down electronics in hot environments. It also houses a heater for cold conditions to prevent the cable and mechanics from freezing. There is also an optional integrated spray-cleaning system that cleans both the sensor and the transport cable following each measuring cycle, keeping maintenance costs to a minimum.


OPTISYS SLM 2100

THE NEW TVS range from Xylem Water Solutions South Africa is the perfect solution for urgent applications that need immediate attention, with a turnaround time of only two weeks – from order to delivery – the

TVS range promises a quick solution and customer satisfaction. The TVS range can be installed both vertically and horizontally and has been designed for use in the mining, municipal and agricultural sectors.

The TVS series of stainless steel submersible pumps provides the customer with reduced life cycle costs, increased energy sav-ings and higher customer value. Life cycle costs, which are mainly influenced by energy consumption, have been reduced by Xylem’s new optimised hydraulics (a dynamic wear ring design), as well as incorporating investment castings with higher-quality surface finishes.

Other factors that influence a pump’s life cycle cost are mainte-nance and installation, as well as corrosion and wear due to abra-sive particles in the water. The stainless-steel-casted components of the TVS pumps provide high corrosion and wear resistance. The pump component geometry designed by finite element analysis, combined with extensive testing, led to an efficient design concept with minimised weight and machining, and ulti-mately an improved price-performance ratio. As a result, the cost of this stainless steel pump compares favourably with the price of a conventional cast iron pump.

The dynamic wear ring design, which reduces internal losses and avoids corrosion and blockage during standby, is another quality feature. The shaft’s conical locking sleeves and pump cou-pling in duplex steel also attribute to the pumps’ quality as they reduce corrosion, improve reliability and simplify maintenance. Other higher-reliability design features include slide bearings in each stage, which guarantees improved smooth operation and lubrication grooves. The TVS pumps can be fitted with an op-tional Hydrovar unit, which optimises performance and protects against unwanted operation conditions, extending the lifespan of the unit. The TVS pumps also have an integrated non-return valve that reduces installation costs, while the Hydrovar option eliminates expensive bypass lines or control valves.

The powerful TVS series manages pump flows of up to 520 m3/h. It is available in two material versions: the standard AISI 304, usable in all water

Rapid results with new TVS pumpsWith a lead time of only two weeks, the new TVS pumps will provide customers with faster solutions, resulting in all-round greater customer value.


PRODUC T NEWS

EVENT


IT NEVER FAILS to excite the teams, spectators and every-body involved. This competition strengthens initiatives to

encourage learners to take mathe-matics and science to enable them to choose one of the top-priority scarce skills on the government’s list, i.e. civil and other engineering disciplines, as well as water-related careers.

The new streamlined equipment was developed by Professor Kobus van Zyl of the University of Cape Town and creator of the water distribution network concept for the competition. The competition illustrates to partic-ipants the realities many municipali-ties face in curbing water losses.

The 2014 champions are Brackenfell High Scool from Cape Town, with team members Angelique le Roux, Aldo Siegling and Bennie van Eeden. Second place went to the Winnie Mandela Secondary School tean from Tembisa, consisting of Gugulethu Mokhwebane, Lerato Dhlamini and Collen Rapelego. In third spot were

Seokedzi Mothoka, Masuila Phihlela and Alvin Seakamela of Dendron Secondary School. The three winning teams and their educators shared the prize money of just over R17 000.

FirstsThis year the winners of the regional competitions came to Johannesburg from as far as Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Buffalo City (East London), Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth), Kimberley and Dendron, Limpopo, to battle the local winners for top honours. Many of the teams were flown to Johannesburg and provided with accommodation at a quality ho-tel – an experience these learners and educators will never forget! For many, this was their first experience of flying and visiting a big city.

Without the major sponsorship of Rand Water, the naming-rights spon-sor, the Water Research Commission (WRC), Marley Pipe Systems, SMEC, the Water Institute of Southern Africa, DPI Plastics and Bosch Stemele,

this event would not have been be possible.

As a direct result of this competition, there are presently three students studying civil engineering. These young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are determined to make a difference in their communities. We just have to continue with these kinds

A game changerThe finals of Aqualibrium, the exciting SAICE-Rand Water Schools Water Competition 2014, was held at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown, Johannesburg on 25 July 2014.

Watching in anticipation – the team from Tswelopele Secondary School in Tembisa. The grid, with the bucket representing a township, suburb or village


EVENT

of projects in order to make a differ-ence to the scarce skills situation and the lives of many people.

For a second successive year, the Aqualibrium initiative had the hon-our of being chosen as one of four finalists in the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) and BHP Billiton Awards, the oldest and most prestigious awards in South Africa, in the category where an individual or team is recognised for their out-standing contribution to science, en-gineering, technology and innovation through science communication and through creating science awareness. The South African Institution of Civil

Engineering (SAICE) team comprises Prof Kobus van Zyl from UCT and Marie Ashpole and Fridah Mahlangu from SAICE National Office.

BackgroundBoth SAICE and Rand Water cele-brated their centenaries in 2003 and as part of these celebrations they launched this joint competition for high school learners. Since then the competition has been streamlined and has gained momentum in appli-cation.Water distribution systems are important to supply safe and clean drinking water.

“The teams are tasked to design a model water distribution network to distribute three litres of water equally between three points on the grid using two different diameter pipes and connection pieces. They are then

judged on how well they execute the task – working on a penalty points system. They have a period of about an hour in which to design, construct and operate their network.”

This competition exposes learners to the practical application of pro-cesses that influence their daily lives, which is how water gets to their homes. They are made aware of the intricacies involved in the design of water distribution networks and the actual water delivery to households.

The grid used for the water distri-bution network is on a background that depicts the entire water cycle. It intrigues learners, as well as ed-ucators, who find it a very helpful educational tool.

The competition creates awareness regarding the issues surrounding water in South Africa. It spreads the message that water is a precious commodity, the use of which should be reduced, recycled, reused, re-spected and conserved. Through this competition, SAICE and the WRC, the current major sponsor, took the responsibility of spreading the news that water should be used wisely, infrastructure should be maintained and that new infrastructure should be created to provide potable water to those without.

This initiative has to continue. Only in this way can we assure that the quality of life of all South Africans will improve in in future.

INDEX TO ADVERTISERSAbeco Tanks OFC

Afri-Infra 58

APE Pumps 8

Aquaplan Water Treatment Engineering 61

Atlas Copco 18

Corde 41

Degrémont 9

Endress & Hauser 20

Fiberpipe 44

Group Five Pipes 46

Grundfos IBC

Hach SA 32

Hansen Industrial Gearboxes 42

I-Cat Environmental Solutions 23

ImproChem 52

Ingerop South Africa 16

Kaytech 14

Keller AG für Druckmesstechnik 2

Krohne South Africa 60

Mather & Platt 63

NALCO IFC & 31

NewElec 62

Quality Filtration Systems 38

Rainbow Reservoirs 36

Rescue Rod 59

Rocla 51

Royal HaskoningDHV 24

SBS Water Systems 57

SEW-Eurodrive 22

The Rare Group 48

ThyssenKrupp 55

Umgeni Water 10

Water & Sanitation Services OBC

WorleyParsons Water RSA 35

Water Purification Chemical &

Plant (WPCP) 29

ABOVE The winning team from Brackenfell High School from left to right: Angelique le Roux, Stanford Mkhacane (SAICE President 2014), Aldo Siegling, Lefadi Makibin-yane (Rand Water board member and CESA CEO), Johan Nieuwoudt (educator) and Bennie van EedenRIGHT In third place was Den-dron Secondary School from Limpopo. The team members were Seokedzi Mothoka, Masuila Phihlela and Alvin Seakamela, with educator Vincent Mokobane, second from the right

ABOVE Winnie Mandela Second-ary School came second, with team members Gugulethu Mokhwebane, Lerato Dhlamini and Collen Rapelego and educator Steven Ngwane at the back, second from the right, along-side representatives from Rand Water and SAICE

More power – less energy

Our BMSX system with isobaric pressure exchanger can lower the energy consumption of your water treatment system to as little as 2 kWh/m3. It is uniquely designed for seawater and brackish water desalination, and features components made of super stainless steel, polymer and ceramic, making it extremely resistant to its operating environment. The compact design makes it a perfect fit for any water treatment system, and it is super-efficient and highly dependable regardless of the application.

Go to www.grundfos.com and find out how your water treatment system can save energy with the new BMSX system.

Grundfos South AfricaTel: 010 248 6000

www.grundfos.co.za

POWER PACKS WITH SMALL FOOTPRINTS THE NEW GRUNDFOS BMSX BOOSTER RANGE

BMS advert South Africa.indd 1 2014/08/18 04:32:26 PM

water&sanitation africa sep/oct 2014

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