Finding wastewater solutions for Africa

As Southern Africa faces a growing wastewater crisis, engineers and representatives from KSB Group companies have committed to finding workable solutions.

Governments and municipalities across Africa are grappling with ways to deal with growing wastewater requirements, and it has become increasingly evident that a onesize-fits-all approach does not work. Differing conditions – such as sand content, water quality and existing infrastructure – play a large role in the specification of future pumping infrastructure requirements.

This has prompted the KSB Group to play a more active role in assisting wastewater entities and to lend its technical expertise through its extensive network of regional companies, branches and dealers that are well established in every country in sub-Saharan Africa.

Strategic training

Preparations to support the intensive new wastewater drive got under way at the regional office of KSB Pumps and Valves in Johannesburg recently, when global expert Ben Harrison – regional application manager: MEAI KSB Global Corporate Water Department, from Germany Halle (Saale) – led a two-day workshop aimed at sharing country-specific information and devising ways of working with authorities to provide wastewater solutions.

“As one of the largest pump companies in the world and a major role player in Africa, we are listening to the needs of the market and taking info from our representatives in each region to our technical department to find pumping solutions for each district,” he says.

“We want to bring international standards to local solutions and provide the kind of wastewater solutions that are affordable, durable and appropriate for the kind of maintenance and support available in that particular area.”

World-class service and expertise

KSB is well entrenched as a main supplier of potable water and other fluid transfer solutions to governments and utilities in many African countries. It therefore makes sense to expand support and solutions for wastewater applications.

“KSB has the backing and expertise to support plans to deal with future wastewater requirements. We understand that expectations don’t differ by country and we assure customers that the knowledge required for engineers in KSB is the same in every country,” says Harrison.

KSB sales engineers are able to discuss requirements on equal terms with engineering teams and can call upon local and international expertise to find the right pumping solutions for the right job.

Now that the company has assembled its internal staff and put in simplified structures to support wastewater pumps in each region, it can be expected that it will hit the ground running and make significant inroads in a market that currently does not enjoy the attention of other large pump manufacturers.

In South Africa, KSB also has the advantage of being a Level 1 BBBEE contributor.