Maintaining sustainable wastewater infrastructure

PROJECTS

MAINTAINING SUSTAINABLE WASTEWATER INFRASTRUCTURE

As South Africa continues to grapple with loadshedding, it becomes important for municipalities to start engaging energy-efficient mechanisms in their water and wastewater infrastructure.

KSB wastewater solutions are efficient to operate in load-shedding periods

This infrastructure is one of the biggest consumers of energy within a municipality’s operations and it is critical to start looking at ways to implement energy-efficient measures within these operations.

According to the 2017 guide compiled by Sustainable Energy Africa, Sustainable energy solutions for South African local government: a practical guide, “The indications are that on average water and wastewater accounts for some 17% of energy consumption in a South African metro. In terms of electricity consumption alone (i.e. excluding liquid fuel use for vehicles), the proportion is far higher – often representing as much as 25% of the entire municipality’s electricity bill.”

Because this contributes so highly to the bill of municipalities, it also means it has the greatest potential to be the starting point of electricity saving measures. By engaging in energy-efficiency measures within the water and wastewater infrastructure cycle, municipalities also improve their fiscal efficiency.

Energy consuming aspects

“We have found that the aeration stage is one of the stages that consumes a lot of energy, as it requires large pump systems; municipalities may not always pay attention to this aspect and may neglect to overhaul due to the expensive nature of more energy-efficient systems,” says Hugo du Plessis, senior project engineer, KSB Pumps and Valves. He further adds that it is important to remember that although the expense may be high at the start, the benefits of cost saving, in the long run, will be worth it.

Du Plessis mentions that the most energyhungry aspects of a water services system relate to the stages of water treatment and pumping. He reiterates the importance of how the implementation of energy-efficient systems will not only help municipalities obtain, retain and improve their Green Drop and Blue Drop certification but will also eventually allow customers to see the difference in their rates and taxes bill.

“Inefficient pump systems will not be able to keep up with the ‘backlog’ of water when load-shedding occurs. KSB Pumps and Valves is willing to assist with site energy-efficiency audits, as we are a fullspectrum solutions provider. We have the expertise and experience to assist municipalities to make the transition to more energy-efficient systems.”

Du Plessis highlights that reliable, energy-efficient pump systems will not only result in energy and cost savings, but will pass on other benefits for the municipality that include: no spillages, reliable uptime, reduced downtime, and better water quality.