Water&Sanitation Africa January/February 2023

Pressure Ranges

0…5 to 0…100 mH2O

Total Error Band ±0,1 %FS @ 0…50 °C

Recording Capacity

57‘000 measuring points

Dimensions ø 22 mm

Special Characteristics

Also available in ECO design

stand-alone or wireless

Pressure Ranges

0…1 to 0…30 bar

Total Error Band ±0,2 %FS @ 0…50 °C

Accuracy ±0,05 %FS

Interfaces RS485, 4…20 mA

Special Characteristics ø 16 mm

Communication Mode 2G / 3G / 4G / LoRa

NB-IoT LTE 2M

Sensor Interfaces RS485, SDI-12, analog, digital

Battery Life

Up to 10 years

Editor Kirsten Kelly

kirsten.kelly@3smedia.co.za

Managing Editor Alastair Currie

Editorial Coordinator Ziyanda Majodina

Head of Design Beren Bauermeister

Chief Sub-editor Tristan Snijders

Contributors Ralf Christoph, Bruce Engelsman, Lester Goldman, Lesley Green, GreenCape, Ashleigh Maritz, Grant McFarlane, Chetan Mistry, Dan Naidoo, Gunter Rencken, Jemima Spring, Jacqueline van Meygaarden

Production & Client Liaison Manager Antois-Leigh Nepgen

Distribution Manager Nomsa Masina

Distribution Coordinator Asha Pursotham

Group Sales Manager Chilomia Van Wijk

Bookkeeper Tonya Hebenton

Advertising Sales Hanlie Fintelman

c +27 (0)67 756 3132

Hanlie.Fintelman@3smedia.co.za

Unhealthy dose of reality in the new year

Relentless load-shedding, the resultant strain on water supply systems and the closure of some beaches were dampeners to our holidays, celebrations and family time. While boreholes and inverters are available to a lucky few, load-shedding and water stoppages are now a common occurrence for most South Africans.

Publisher Jacques Breytenbach

3S Media

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PO Box 92026, Norwood 2117

Tel: +27 (0)11 233 2600 www.3smedia.co.za

ISSN: 1990 - 8857

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Copyright 2023. All rights reserved. All material

The beginning of the year is usually for reminiscing about holidays, back-to-school photos, counting the days until pay day, and New Year’s resolutions. But this year seems different. Checking load-shedding schedules is firmly entrenched in our daily routine, and South Africans are a little punch-drunk from the interest rate hikes, electricity price increase and general inflation.

As I begin to plot the year ahead (around load-shedding schedules, of course), I cannot help but ask: what are our government’s New Year’s resolutions?

ANC’s cadre deployment unlawful and unconstitutional – so we’ll see how that goes.

Dan Naidoo, chairman of WISA, calls for better communication with the public. By engaging customers and the public, the water sector can encourage a positive behaviour change, increase support for investment in water infrastructure, and assist local communities and the environment (page 11).

My hopes for 2023

I’ve also put together some of my own sector-specific hopes for the coming year:

WISA Contacts:

HEAD OFFICE

Tel: 086 111 9472(WISA)

Fax: +27 (0)11 315 1258

Physical address: 1st Floor, Building 5, Constantia Park, 546 16th Road, Randjiespark Ext 7, Midrand

Website: www.wisa.org.za

BRANCHES

Central Branch

(Free State, Northern Cape, North West)

Chairperson: Dr Leana Esterhuizen

Company: Central University of Technology

Tel: +27 (0)51 507 3850

Email: lesterhu@cut.ac.za

Eastern Cape:

Branch Contact: Dan Abrahams

Company: Aurecon

Tel: +27 (0)41 503 3929

Cell: +27 (0) 81 289 1624

Email: Dan.Abraham@aurecongroup.com

Gauteng

Branch Lead: Zoe Gebhardt

Cell: +27 (0)82 3580876

Email: zoe.gebhardt@gmail.com

KwaZulu-Natal

Chairperson: Lindelani Sibiya

Company: Umgeni Water

Cell: +27 (0)82 928 1081

Email: lindelani.sibiya@umgeni.co.za

Limpopo

Chairperson: Mpho Chokolo

Company: Lepelle Northern Water

Cell: +27 (0)72 310 7576

Email: mphoc@lepelle.co.za

Mpumalanga

Chairperson: Lihle Mbatha (Acting)

Company: Inkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency

Tel: +27 (0)13 753 9000

Email: mbathat@iucma.co.za

Western Cape

Chairperson: Natasia van Binsbergen

Company: AL Abbott & Associates

Tel: +27 (0)21 448 6340

Cell: +27 (0)83 326 3887

Email: natasia@alabbott.co.za

Namibia

Please contact the WISA Head Office at admin@wisa.org.za for more information

Government’s focus Minister Senzo Mchunu has stated that the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) will be placing a larger focus on assisting municipalities with the delivery of water and sanitation services. “The DWS will no longer exclusively concentrate on bulk water and water resource management at the exclusion of water services management. We will strengthen our role in regulating, supporting and intervening in municipalities where water and sanitation services are deteriorating,” he says. Read more about his plans on page 14.

Lester Goldman, CEO of WISA, believes that by professionalising key positions within municipalities, cadre deployment will be reduced and accountability will be increased. But mostly, competent people will be employed to provide the public with basic services. Read more on page 10.

In fact, there is a currently a court case in the Gauteng High Court in which the DA is asking the court to declare the

• non-sewered sanitation systems gain traction

• general public to understand that water is a scarce resource that cannot be wasted

• accountability (for everyone)

• technical people to make decisions around water and for politicians to support them.

Rays of hope

As gloomy as we all feel, there are pockets of excellence within government and the public sector – be it interesting technologies (page 6), awardwinning water professionals (page 17) or committed public servants (page 22). Our sector is filled with talented individuals, world-leading water policies and tons of solutions. Let’s listen to the individuals, implement the policies and use the solutions available to us.

COVER OPPORTUNITY

In 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, contact Hanlie Fintelman on +27 (0)67 756 3132, or email Hanlie.Fintelman@3smedia.co.za.

WISA’s Vision Inspiring passion for water

You said it in WASA

“With MABR technology, it is important to note that the wastewater is not filtered through the membrane. The membrane provides optimum conditions for biology in wastewater. Therefore, there is no membrane clogging and fouling, no need to replace membranes every few years and no need for regular chemical maintenance. This reduces the operating expenditure of the plant. The MABR module is constructed from durable materials, ensuring more than a 20-year life expectancy.”

PAGE

“Professionalisation standardises the education and training required for an occupation. This means that the public can at least anticipate the standard of the service provided. Professionalising key positions within the water sector will ensure that the right person is in the right job and, once they are in that job, they are professional. It will narrow down nepotism and political appointments. This can be done by simply identifying key legislation that needs to be changed.”

PAGE

“Managing water requires effective communication with all stakeholders, particularly customers and the public. By engaging customers and the public, the water sector can encourage a positive behaviour change, increase support for investment in water infrastructure, and assist local communities and the environment.”

Dan Naidoo, chairman, WISA

PAGE

“The DWS will no longer exclusively concentrate on bulk water and water resource management at the exclusion of water services management. We will strengthen our role in regulating, supporting and intervening in municipalities where water and sanitation services are deteriorating. We have realised that community protests and complaints around water services have occurred as a result of the DWS and water boards directing their sole attention on water resource management and leaving reticulation exclusively to municipalities. Some municipalities’ capacity to supply water and sanitation to households has declined. The DWS will not abandon its focus on bulk water and water resource management, but seeks to balance its priorities with water services management.”

Minister Senzo Mchunu, Department of Water and Sanitation 14 PAGE

“I have been extremely fortunate to have an incredible career, and remain passionate about ensuring that everyone has access to clean water and a safe environment. As an engineer, it is impossible to be bored when working in the water and sanitation space. Water and sanitation services have a profound impact on people’s lives and it is an honour and privilege to play a part in that.”

Neil Macleod, WISA Honorary Member

17 PAGE

Dr Lester Goldman, CEO, WISA

Lunga Patso, process engineer at MEB

The opinions and statements shared by thought leaders in the water industry to Water&Sanitation Africa.

“Some of the most moving experiences have been to witness service delivery and the impact that it makes on people’s lives. I remember delivering a flushing toilet to an 83-year-old lady with a facility to wash hands; it was not even in her house, it was outside. But to her it was life changing. That makes you see the world through different eyes. I have travelled from wealthy areas to areas that are riddled with poverty and hopelessness. I have witnessed some incredible progress, but I have seen many people living in difficulty. This always reminds me that government’s role is to bridge the gap between the wealthy and the poor. It is important to bring hope to people through service delivery.”

“The DWS does not want to be seen as the department with the big stick; we want to partner with everyone and work together in protecting this precious resource. However, we do have a stick and we will act against noncompliance.”

“Although colorimetry requires a spectrophotometer or photometer, it offers convenience since most manufacturers offer premixed reagents, so it is easy to run samples with the digestion chemicals and have minimal contact. Since all the analyst needs to do is digest the samples and let the instrument do the work, colorimetry is the most common method to measure COD.”

Ralf Christoph, GM, Hanna Instruments SA

“The Netherlands has over 700 years of experience in water management. There are 21 regional water authorities in the Netherlands. Essentially a delta area, nearly half of our country is below sea level. We receive water from rivers from other countries. This makes water management for the Netherlands a national security issue, especially with the maintenance of the country’s system of dikes and pumps for flood defence. Half of our country would not exist without water management.”

“Assets connected digitally with sensors generate patterns that reveal many interesting insights, including maintenance status, underperformance, excessive energy consumption, flow, pressure, water level, pH levels, conductivity and numerous other metrics. The collected information can support operations and maintenance planning, alarms and service quality supervision.”

Chetan Mistry, strategy and marketing manager, Xylem Africa

Raquel Nosie Mazwi, director: Water Resource Regulation, Department of Water and Sanitation

Marion Wierda, member of the Dutch Water Authorities and CE of Blue Deal South Africa

Sputnik Ratau, former spokesperson, Department of Water and Sanitation

Traditional aeration technology has low oxygen transfer efficiency (between 10% and 15%) and high energy consumption (approximately 50% of the overall operating expenditure of the plant). Fluence Corporation MABR (membrane aerated biofilm reactor) technology is a solution to these challenges.

trialled by eThekwini Municipality PIONEERING WASTEWATER TECHNOLOGY

The technology models the functioning of the human lung. Lungs absorb oxygen and pass it on to the blood stream. Similarly, MABRs treat wastewater by passively supplying dissolved oxygen through a semipermeable membrane onto an aerobic biofilm.

“This is a fabulous aeration system where only oxygen can pass through the membrane to the biofilm –without the formation of bubbles. The biofilm performs as an active barrier that consumes oxygen, supporting anoxic conditions in the bulk liquid. It constantly removes contaminants from the wastewater,” says Lunga Patso, process engineer at MEB, the exclusive representative of Fluence Corporation in South Africa.

Counter-diffusion of oxygen and substrates

MABRs are especially effective for total nitrogen removal, due to the countergradient diffusion of substrates.

On the one side of the membrane, there is a low stream of air that is continuously supplied by a standard blower that works at very low air pressure. Oxygen passes through the semi-permeable membrane to the biofilm (where microorganisms are active) on the other side of the membrane. Here, the nutrients diffuse from the bulk liquid to the biofilm, where nutrients are reduced, and COD (chemical oxygen demand) is almost fully absorbed (bio-absorption) by the suspended growth.

The dissolved oxygen concentration is highest at the attachment surface and

drops to low levels in the bulk liquid as it is consumed by the biofilm.

“Nitrifying bacteria are exposed to high dissolved oxygen levels, leading to higher nitrification rates. At the same time, the outer biofilm and bulk liquid are anoxic, allowing the heterotrophic bacteria to reduce nitrates with influent biological oxygen demand (BOD) as an electron donor. This makes MABR technology unique, as there is simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and BOD removal within a single biofilm," explains Patso.

MABR module

The activated sludge wastewater treatment process typically requires multiple chambers (anaerobic-anoxicaerobic), but MABR performs the actions in a single tank, since the membrane can

The Aspiral™ S1 System is a full packaged plant containing fine screening, one MABR module, aerobic volume, secondary clarifier, disinfection and control cabinet in a 20 ft container

achieve aerobic and anoxic conditions in the same basin. This smaller footprint is especially useful in urban areas.

The MABR module is a spiral-wound sleeve of oxygen-permeable material. An air spacer is inside the sleeve to allow for low air pressure flow. There is also an external water spacer that controls the water volume that is in contact with the membrane.

It is submerged in the biological reactor where intermittent mixing from diffusers causes the wastewater to circulate through the spiral. A short mixing duration is sufficient to homogenise the contents of each stage of the spiral reactor. In a four-stage spiral reactor, nutrients are removed in a onepass process without internal circulation.

The aerobic biofilm develops on the surface of the membrane and its thickness is well controlled; it cannot grow beyond 300 microns.

Patso adds that it is important to note that the wastewater is not filtered through the membrane. “The membrane provides optimum conditions for biology in wastewater. Therefore, there is no membrane clogging and fouling, no need to replace membranes every few years and no need for regular chemical maintenance. This reduces the operating expenditure of the plant. The MABR module is constructed from durable materials, ensuring more than a 20-year life expectancy.”

MABRs can be used in packaged plants and as a retrofit in existing conventional activated sludge (CAS)/AxO wastewater treatment plants.

Additional benefits

Furthermore, MABR technology is extremely energy efficient due to

ABOUT MEB

The activated sludge wastewater treatment process typically requires multiple chambers (anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic), but MABR performs the actions in a single tank

its passive aeration. By using low air pressure, the bubbleless aeration system reduces energy consumption by up to 90% compared to conventional technologies. On average, 0.25 kWh of energy is consumed per m3 of wastewater treatment.

“Its effective oxygen permeability leads to a high nitrification rate. Wastewater is treated to irrigation standards, BOD and nutrients are removed within a single basin, and this reduces the need for mixers required for the anoxic stage in the conventional activated sludge process.

The MABR module therefore has fewer electromechanical components, making the entire system easy to operate,” says Patso.

MABR’s low odour and noise levels make the technology ‘neighbourhood friendly’. A side benefit of the MABR design is the

MEB is a global company, operating in South Africa since 2010. It has 20 years’ experience worldwide in the fields of oil and gas, water, telecommunications, and power and energy. The MEB core business in Africa is water and wastewater, namely decentralised, modular, pre-engineered, sustainable and energy-efficient solutions.

The company has its head office in Umhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and offices in Maputo, Mozambique.

MEB has provided engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), as well as maintenance, management, operation and support to several water and wastewater projects in Africa, including:

• 10 Mℓ/day seawater desalination plant, Richards Bay, South Africa

• 30 Mℓ/day freshwater plant, Maputo, Mozambique

• solar farm and brackish water plant, Chigubo, Mozambique.

ability to achieve up to 90% phosphorous removal without a dedicated anaerobic zone and chemical addition for this purpose. This drives down the operating expenditure on chemicals and manpower. Of course, chemicals for disinfection are needed just like any other wastewater treatment.

“This is not a new technology. Fluence is one of three global suppliers of MABR technology, and they have over 340 installations worldwide. MEB decided to showcase the technology in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, as a platform to demonstrate the effectiveness of MABR under local conditions,” states Patso.

eThekwini Municipality case study

The Aspiral™ S1 System – a full packaged plant containing fine screening, one MABR module, aerobic volume, secondary clarifier, disinfection and

The MABR module is constructed from durable materials, ensuring more than a 20-year life expectancy

MABR CONFIGURATIONS PLANT CAPACITY FEATURES

Aspiral™ Micro – on-site decentralised sewage treatment plant, smallest product, includes a clarifier and pre-screen

Aspiral™ – packaged plant where MABR modules are submerged in a containerised reactor, includes a clarifier and pre-screen

Aspiral™ Plant – end-to-end wastewater solution, covering all stages (pre-treatment, primary, secondary, and tertiary) of wastewater treatment

Aspiral™ Modules – integrate MABR into existing solutions that require improved efficiency

SUBRE Plant – concrete MABR plant that is suitable for greenfield operations

SUBRE Upgrade – retrofit CAS/AxO plants using MABR to increase capacity without expanding footprint and/or improve the quality of the effluent

5 m3/day

50-120 m3/day

300 m3/day

• Scalable, modular system

• Can be moved from one location to another

• Treats wastewater for communities from 1 household to 35 000 households

• Pre-engineered pre-packaged wastewater solution

• Fast deployment

• Ideal for small towns, residential communities, resorts, hotels and commercial buildings

• Suitable for greenfield wastewater treatment plants

• Upgrade CAS/AxO centralised wastewater treatment plants for larger communities

• Eliminate delays for costly new builds

2 000-200 000 m3/day

• SUBRE towers are submerged within existing aeration basins with a minimum depth of 1.5 m

• Retrofits are done quickly with minimal disturbance to existing operations

As a fully automated system, the Aspiral™ S1 can be accessed from any location. This feature provided value during the Covid-19 pandemic and when there was civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal where the site could not be physically accessed for a period of two weeks, yet the system could be monitored, operated and optimised remotely.

Pre-treatment is done through coarse screening and grit removal systems. A fats, oils and grease (FOG) trap is only required for oily wastewater with FOG concentration higher than 60 mg/ℓ

control cabinet in a 20 ft container – was installed at a wastewater treatment plant in 2020.

“This is the first phase of a wastewaterto-drinking-water pilot that is intended to be scaled up for comprehensive reuse for potable water quality applicatio ns. Currently, the effluent produced can be used for non-potable uses, such as the flushing of toilets or for irrigation purposes,” adds Patso.

Due to the pre-packaged plant design and the limited amount of civil work needed (only concrete slabs), the entire system was installed within one week.

Pre-treated wastewater is pumped from an equalisation tank through a perforated 1 mm fine pre- screening and flows into the Aspiral™ S1 system where a submerged MABR module will allow for simultaneous nitrification and denitrification process, removing organic matter and total nitrogen pollutants from the wastewater.

"MEB is working with an independent, accredited laboratory that samples the treated effluent and provides results. As seen in the results in Table 1, the biofilm process protects from load shocks, low

temperatures and even power disruptions,” states Patso.

The effluent from the MABR stage flows into the secondary clarifier unit where it is separated into two streams: clean, high-quality effluent and sludge. Most of the produced sludge is recirculated back to the MABR process (RAS) while the rest (WAS) is periodically discharged to the sludge holding tank. In the second phase of the project, tertiary treatment processes will be added to produce drinking water that meet SANS 241:2015.

MEB works with an independent, accredited laboratory that samples the treated effluent and provides results

Due to the pre-packaged plant design and the limited amount of civil work needed (only concrete slabs), the entire system can be installed within one week

TABLE 1 Quality of the treated effluent

*According to the revision of general authorisations in terms of Section 39 of the National Water Act (No. 36 of 1998), wastewater limit values applicable to discharge of wastewater into a water resource

WHERE GLOBAL CAPITAL MEETS AFRICAN OPPORTUNITY

WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND

Meet renewable energy and e-mobility solution providers

Drive Africa’s Green Economy strategy alongside other African cities

Engage with potential partners enabling the creation of the local value chain

Understand from international experts how to transition to smart and sustainable cities

Network with green project owners and investors in one location.

PROFESSIONALISATION

must be implemented in 2023

While many municipalities are teetering on the brink of collapse, cabinet is still considering the implementation of a framework geared towards the professionalisation of the entire public service.

By Lester Goldman, CEO, WISA

The quality and reliability of water and sanitation services – particularly in the poorer, more rural municipalities – are inadequate. While this is due, in part, to financial constraints, it has become evident that the absence of sufficient and sufficiently skilled personnel to oversee and operate these services has been an important contributor to these problems. According to the Green Drop Report 2022, more than a third – 334 wastewater treatment works (39%) out of 955 systems –are classified as critical. Again, this is largely caused by a lack of skills and accountability.

Municipalities face asset management, revenue collection, load-shedding, non-revenue water and climate change challenges. The call for the professionalisation of

key posts within national and local government in the water sector is no longer a luxury but an absolute necessity. It will mitigate nepotism and corruption immediately.

Professionalisation a means to protect the public Attorneys, doctors and engineers are classic examples of professionalisation. They require extensive training and have formal barriers to entry (a degree, passing a bar exam, registration with a professional body like LSSA, HPSA and ECSA). They can claim to perform work that people outside the profession cannot do (e.g. represent a client in court, operate on a patient, approve a structural design). If they behave unprofessionally, they risk being deregistered as an attorney, doctor or engineer, and will no longer be able to work in that occupation. This should apply to the provision of water.

Professionalisation standardises the education and training required for an occupation. This means that the public can at least anticipate the standard of the service provided. Professionalising

key positions within the water sector will ensure that the right person is in the right job and, once they are in that job, they are professional. It will narrow down nepotism and political appointments. This can be done by simply identifying key legislation that needs to be changed.

I am in no way advocating a guillotine approach. There are people in posts that are highly competent with no qualifications. In those cases, we can use the RPL (recognition of prior learning) process with the professional bodies. We cannot professionalise overnight, but let’s see some action to the words in 2023.

Happy New Year

I’d like to wish all WISA members a prosperous and rewarding year. Here is to hoping that 2023 is the year in which we all partner with government to fix these water issues and avert a crisis. Let’s clean up the water space; let’s deal with all areas of concern. We cannot wait until it is too late. May this year be filled with less talk and a lot more action. That is my wish for 2023.

New Year’s resolution: to become better communicators

Over the past month, there has been extensive communication with the public over water issues revolving around the closure of some Durban and Cape Town beaches, imposed water restrictions in Gauteng, the drought in Gqeberha, potential floods in KwaZuluNatal and water supply interruptions around the country due to load-shedding. By Dan Naidoo, chairman, WISA

Managing water requires effective communication with all stakeholders, particularly customers and the public. By engaging customers and the public, the water sector can encourage a positive behaviour change, increase support for investment in water infrastructure, and assist local communities and the environment.

However, most of our communication with the public is reactive. Today, the public is far more knowledgeable; they are aware of the state of our water and wastewater infrastructure and ask some very important – and sometimes difficult – questions...

Does the pollution in Durban beaches affect the quality of my drinking water? Why are there water restrictions in Johannesburg when the dams are full? How does load-shedding affect water supply in my area? Why do only some areas have water? How many days until ‘Day Zero’? Is our water safe to

drink? What are the chances of cholera? What is E. coli and how much of it is in my water?

This interest is good, because taxpayers must know how their municipalities and water utilities are performing and hold them to account when necessary. An informed public can motivate for bigger water and sanitation budgets, and are more likely to value and conserve water.

Information and education key

There is, of course the danger of misinformation and the public misinterpreting data and technical terms, but it is our job as the water sector to educate and inform them. We need to improve upon the skill of communicating complex terms and processes in an understandable, digestible format.

We should be creating and providing up-to-date dashboards of information for the public to view. We should be unpacking why water is a precious

resource, the impacts of climate change on water and challenges in our sector, as well as the current status quo in the least technical manner. This is the only way that we gain the trust of the public. We need to deconstruct and demystify the water sector.

It is also important to give people hope. They must know about our plans to improve the situation, and the completed projects that have a direct positive impact on their lives. We should inform them of work done to give more people access to safe water and sanitation, and how we are tracking in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 in 2030.

Sharing this information will give the public some assurance that we are working towards improving the situation and will also hold the water sector accountable. It will also accelerate the public acceptance of new technologies like non-sewered sanitation and water reuse.

PLANNING FOR A WATER-SECURE FUTURE begins today

In anticipation of this boom in demand, from as far back as 2005, Mhlathuze Water secured a wateruse licence to develop infrastructure on the Tugela River, allowing it to churn 47.3 million megalitres of water per annum.

The year 2022 was an extraordinarily difficult one for KwaZulu-Natal. Floods ravaged the province in April, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake.

While Mhlathuze Water did not experience any major disturbances to its water infrastructure during the floods, it is not immune to the threats of climate change. The threats posed by climate change compel the water utility to act decisively. Consequently, approaches to infrastructure planning must change in order to adapt and minimise the effects of climate change.

Climate change manifests itself in a variety of forms; the north of KwaZulu-Natal found itself faced with one of its severest droughts in 2015, which exposed how ill prepared the province was for the tectonic shifts in weather patterns.

In both these cited instances, an important lesson for Mhlathuze Water is that all plans for future water security must consider the myriad effects of climate change – ranging from water scarcity to extreme rains.

Development of a Bulk Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Plan

Mhlathuze Water has developed a Bulk Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Plan that makes provision for the long-term bulk water and related services to meet the needs of industries and communities. This plan provides an integrated overview of all actions, initiatives and projects to effectively meet current and future bulk water and wastewater demands. The plan also makes provision for water reserves in order to accommodate the growth forecasts of industries and communities.

The 2040 Reconciliation Strategy for the Richards Bay growth node is also expressed in the plan, as well as the actions required over the next 20 years in anticipation of these projections.

Furthermore, the board of Mhlathuze Water has approved a sum of R21 million for three feasibility studies that are critical to future water security.

Abstraction from the Tugela River (Mandeni)

The Tugela River holds massive promise for expanded water provision in the north of KwaZulu-Natal. Provided this system is adequately developed, the anticipated growth in demand for both residential and industrial water in the northern corridor of the province will be met and surpassed.

Through this development, the intention would be to transfer the abstraction licence to the Tugela-Goedertrouw Transfer Scheme by increasing water being transferred to the Goedertrouw to the Mhlathuze River. This would enable Mhlathuze Water to meet future demand and business development initiatives by relieving pressure on the Mhlathuze weir supply system, as well as add a second raw water source.

Desalination of sea water

Lessons from the droughts seven years ago brought into sharper focus the need to explore alternate water sources. Mhlathuze’s master plan recommends a feasibility study into the desalination of water. Ultimately, depending on the outcomes of the study, the intention is to construct a desalination plant to support the current water resources in use in Richards Bay and the surrounding areas.

Infrastructure development for economic growth and job creation

Due to its location, Mhlathuze Water makes plans in tandem with the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone (RBIDZ).

The RBIDZ Phase 1F Water Supply and Effluent Disposal has been developed to assist a mega industrial development by Nyanza Light Metals.

The R5 billion development will require Mhlathuze Water to provide effluent disposal infrastructure to dispose of approximately 872 m3/h with (20.9 Mℓ/day of) brine containing gypsum suspended solids.

Previous experience in handling large volumes of effluent for industries like Foskor means that Mhlathuze Water is more than equal to this task. This development will be a major injection into the economy of KwaZulu-Natal and will result in the creation of much needed jobs in the Richards Bay region.

Equitable access to water for social transformation

Mhlathuze Water has an obligation to respond to the directive by the 2030 National Development Plan (NDP) to water institutions to act as enablers for water provision. The NDP calls for municipalities and water boards to ensure: that the use of water is equitable; that citizens and all stakeholders are represented in issues of water governance; and, third, that decent water and sanitation services are available for all South Africans.

In pursuit of this objective, over the past financial year, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, issued a Section 63 to Mhlathuze Water to provide intervention and complete the restoration

of water projects in the uMkhanyakude District to provide water to households. There are advanced plans to execute this mandate within the shortest possible period. With these infrastructure upgrades, Mhlathuze Water will work closely with the uMkhanyakude District so that locals benefit from the resultant employment and economic opportunities. Looking ahead, the utility remains poised to play a central role in the growth of KwaZulu-Natal’s fortunes and to make a meaningful difference in the lives of ordinary citizens.

Mhlathuze Water has an obligation to respond to the directive by the 2030 National Development Plan (NDP) to water institutions to act as enablers for water provision.

DWS’s ‘captain’ and his plan for 2023

Minister Senzo Mchunu of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) addressed delegates at the WISA 2022 Biennial Conference. He insisted that a larger focus be placed on assisting municipalities with the delivery of water and sanitation services going forward.

The DWS will no longer exclusively concentrate on bulk water and water resource management at the exclusion of water services management. We will strengthen our role in regulating, supporting and intervening in municipalities where water and sanitation services are deteriorating. We have realised that community protests and complaints around water services have occurred as a result of the DWS and water boards directing their sole attention on water resource management and leaving reticulation exclusively to municipalities. Some municipalities’ capacity to supply water and sanitation

to households has declined. The DWS will not abandon its focus on bulk water and water resource management, but seeks to balance its priorities with water services management,” he said.

Key priority projects

A lot of emphasis has been placed on key priority projects – at different stages of development – that will ensure water security not only at a national level but inclusive of provinces, metros and district municipalities.

“Many municipalities and the DWS have a poor record of underexpenditure and delays on their capital projects. I have implemented corrective measures that include hands-on

monitoring of the progress of these projects as well as budget versus expenditure. We need to ensure that project planning takes place the year before it is implemented, ensuring that projects are ready when the financial year begins,” stated Mchunu.

An Infrastructure Procurement Strategy has been developed by the DWS to line up with National Treasury’s framework for Infrastructure Delivery and Procurement Management to enable quicker, smarter and more effective infrastructure procurement. There will also be a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption in the procurement and management of projects. Corruption in the water sector will be fought across all levels of government.

Key priority projects include:

• Limpopo

- Giyani Project

- Olifants Water Resource Management Module (OMM Programme)

- Masodi Wastewater Treatment Works Project

- Olifantspoort and Ebenezer Water Supply Schemes (O&E WSS)

• Western Cape

- Raising of the dam in Clanwilliam

- Greater Brandvlei Scheme – Holsloot Feeder Canal

• KwaZulu-Natal

- uMkhomazi Water Project

- Possible dams for upper and lower Tugela for local communities in Msinga, Nkandla, and Mandini

- Possible dams on the uMfolozi system to supply Ulundi, Nongoma and the Mfolozi River Regional Water Supply Scheme

Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu

The DWS will not abandon its focus on bulk water and water resource management, but seeks to balance its priorities with water services management

• Free State

- Greater Mangaung Water Augmentation Project – Xhariep Pipeline Feasibility Study

- Maluti-a-Phofung LM interventions

• Gauteng

- Lesotho Water Highlands Scheme Phase 2

- Section 63 Vaal River Intervention Project

• Eastern Cape

- Nooitgedagt Coega Low Level Scheme (NCLLS) Phase 3

- Mzimvubu Water Project

- Augmentation of the James Kleynhans Bulk Water Supply in Makhanda

• Mpumalanga

- Thembisile/Loskop Regional Bulk Water Supply Project

• Northern Cape

- Vaal Gamara Regional Water Supply Scheme.

National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA)

In response to the country’s old and dysfunctional water infrastructure, the DWS has established the NWRIA, which will own, manage, maintain and operate national water resource infrastructure, as well as assume responsibility for raising funding. Cabinet has approved the bill and it is currently in the consultation stage. “The DWS looks forward to pushing the bill into law, as this will be an important intervention. The public does

not care about spheres of government and who is responsible for what – they just want water. Where there is no water, the DWS will have to intervene. Municipalities must continue to supply water, but if they cannot supply water, we must help them to supply that water,” added Mchunu.

Legislation (Section 63 of the National Water Act and Section 139 of the Constitution) is being reviewed in terms of empowering the DWS to intervene when municipalities fail to deliver water and sanitation services.

Financial health

The Water Trading Entity (WTE) at the DWS is currently owed R23 billion. This debt is rising due to non-payment from municipalities and water boards, which owe the WTE R8.5 billion and R7.6 billion respectively. Municipalities owe water boards over R14 billion.

Mchunu also highlighted the importance of improved billing and

THE WPO WILL WORK ON FIVE PROGRAMMES

revenue collection across the water chain. “This rising debt declines government’s credit ratings and borrowing capacity that results in inadequate investments in infrastructure. Weak revenue collection also results in inadequate funding for operations and maintenance that results in unreliable service that negatively impacts water quality and quantity, health, and the environment.”

Water Services Improvement Programme

The DWS is also putting in place a Water Services Improvement Programme to strengthen its support and intervention at municipal level, making such measures more consistent than the current ad-hoc approach. The programme consists of four key elements:

1. In terms of the Water Services Act (No. 108 of 1997), the DWS will issue updated and more comprehensive norms and standards for water and sanitation services.

1. Non-revenue water

2. Management contract

3. Wastewater treatment

A comprehensive water conservation/water demand management and cost recovery programme focusing on reducing losses and over-consumption, and improving cost recovery. The private sector obtains a return on investment from savings through reducing losses or from increases in revenue.

A programme in which the private sector provides overall management and support to a water and sanitation function in a municipality. The private sector obtains a return on investment from savings through efficiency improvements or from increased revenue.

This will assist municipalities to upgrade and refurbish their wastewater treatment facilities. Funding and implementation will be done through a private sector participation model that leverages a portion of grant funding.

2. A national regulatory dashboard will be created showing the extent of compliance with national norms and standards for all WSAs. This will use existing monitoring information like Drop, National Treasury and CoGTA reports.

4. Water reuse

This focuses on further treatment of municipal wastewater to enable it to be sold for potable, industrial or agricultural use. Related resource recovery includes energy generation and sludge beneficiation. The private sector obtains return of investment from sale of reuse, electricity generation and sludge beneficiation.

3. Regional support and intervention plans will be developed based on the evidence in the national regulatory dashboard in consultation with provincial government, municipalities and district development model structures.

5. Seawater desalination

This places a focus on independent water production by producing potable water by seawater desalination. Private sector obtains a return on investment through the sale of desalinated water to municipalities and other customers.

4. Support and intervention plans will draw on a range of support programmes, which will be developed at national level and draw on the capacity of the DWS regional offices, water boards and private sector.

The raising of the Clanwilliam Dam wall is a key priority project

In response to the country’s old and dysfunctional water infrastructure, the DWS has established the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency

Water boards

In its efforts to improve service delivery, the DWS will reposition and reconfigure water boards, making them work more closely with municipalities, where they will assist in providing water and sanitation services.

“We are appealing to municipalities to not regard water boards as enemies or as opposition, but as partners. The DWS is looking to reduce the number of water boards, and have already disestablished the Sedibeng Water Board. We have also embarked on the reconfiguration and consolidation of Umgeni Water and Mhlathuze Water. Mhlathuze Water as a separate entity will be disestablished and the boundary of Umgeni Water will be extended to include Mhlathuze Water. The incorporation of Mhlathuze Water into Umgeni Water will result in the formation of a single water board in KwaZulu-Natal, enabling both water boards to merge their assets and skills for key infrastructure development, increase water supply, expand access to unserved areas, and improve service delivery within the entire province,” stated Mchunu.

Increase private sector participation

Mchunu called for greater public and private partnership, with a view to strengthen collaboration by formalising and institutionalising partnerships. “Alone, the public sector does not have the necessary skills, capacity and funding to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6. The DWS aims to create a conducive environment for the private sector to operate, thrive, and grow the sector and create jobs.”

One such example is the Water Partnerships Office (WPO) – a ring-fenced entity housed in the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). The WPO will develop standardised national standardised programmes for private sector participation in municipal water

There is a need for greater public and private partnership with a view to strengthen collaboration by formalising and institutionalising partnerships

and sanitation services. “The idea is to make it easier, quicker and cheaper for municipalities to enter into partnerships, without having to ‘reinvent the wheel’ every time. Where appropriate, the WPO will facilitate blended financing and support municipalities to undertake feasibility studies and financial structuring,” explained Mchunu.

“When I joined the DWS in 2021, most of the leadership positions were ‘acting’. This is not Los Angeles. I have permanently appointed everybody, there is now a fully fledged and fully functional DWS that is grappling with all the challenges and problems thrown its way. This year, the public and professionals within the water sector will clearly see the large strides the DWS is making in providing quality water and sanitation for all, instead of me arguing that we are improving,” concluded Mchunu.

Some municipalities’ capacity to supply water and sanitation to households has declined

of work in water and sanitation OVER HALF A CENTURY

Neil Macleod has received the highest possible honour that can be given by WISA – the WISA Honorary Member Award. Kirsten Kelly talks to Macleod about his 50-year career, lessons learned and his opinions on the water and sanitation sector.

How did your career begin in water and sanitation?

NM Having grown up in KwaZuluNatal, I spent a great deal of my time playing in water as a child, and this piqued my interest. My late father was the city engineer at the old Durban Municipality, with a focus on sewerage. I received a bursary from the city to study a civil engineering degree, where upon completion, I would have to work for the city for four years. Many of my major subjects revolved around water and I was therefore placed within the water department’s design office as a young engineer.

After a few years, I became a little restless and took up a position to manage the field staff and people who operated the utilities within the water

department. While some people at the time saw this move as a ‘backward step’, it taught me some invaluable lessons:

• A successful engineer cannot only stick to design, it is important to run systems, operate and maintain them, as well as build or supervise the construction of infrastructure. This will only improve your future designs.

• At the time, I was a terrible manager. While I was technically competent, I had difficulty in adapting my management style to suit a particular person. This then prompted me to study an MBA.

WISA HONORARY MEMBER AWARD

Honorary Membership is handed to exceptional water sector professionals in recognition of their outstanding contribution to WISA and/or the water sector and society. It remains at the WISA board’s discretion and was originally conferred on the founders of WISA. Since its inception in 1987, WISA has only given out 21 Honorary Member Awards – before Neil, the last one was received by the late Professor Chris Buckley.

I did the MBA part time, and that was gruelling because I was a newly married man with a young family and a demanding job. However, that MBA changed my life and outlook on engineering. I learned that there is more to engineering than the technical. There is also strategy, law, finance, people, the environment and project management.

In the early 1990s, politics drastically changed how Durban city was structured. Business units were

Neil Macleod has received the highest possible honour that can be given by WISA – the WISA Honorary Member Award

created and people with business skills were required to head these different units. I was then given the job to create a business unit that delivers water and sanitation to the people and prepare for post 1994.

In 1996, the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality was created when 38 municipalities were amalgamated. I was then given a contract to head up the new metro’s eThekwini Water and Sanitation corporatised entity (EWS). It was recognised that these services needed to be delivered in a businesslike manner and so the relevant procurement, finance, HR, IT, fleet and customer management functions were decentralised into EWS. This transition posed many management challenges.

On a personal note, running a utility with over 3 000 staff members and a budget over R6.5 billion is very stressful. I was on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Another challenge (and it remains a challenge) was that water and sanitation are politically charged. However, when I headed EWS, I received massive support from the mayor of eThekwini Municipality. He was in office for 15 years, he was a businessman, and

had an MBA. He sorted out the politics, worked on policy and ensured that I implemented that policy. There was political stability during my time at the helm of the EWS – unlike some of the coalitions in municipalities today.

What are some of the highlights of your career?

• Free basic water

At the time, there were over a million people living in the metro without access to water and sanitation services. Many parts of the metro had been neglected, with minimal or no municipal services and low payment rates for these services. There was (and still is) a lot of poverty and disconnecting people from water for non-payment was not an option.

I therefore introduced the concept of free basic water, where a single household was allowed up to 6 k ℓ of water a month for free. After a visit to the metro by President Thabo Mbeki, free basic water was implemented nationwide. However, there was a mistake that was made. I consulted residents as well as the World Health Organization (WHO), and calculated that the average household needed 6 k ℓ of water a month, based on 25 litres per person per day and an average poor family size

of eight. But years later, many people claimed that 6 k ℓ was not enough water for them to survive, particularly families living with HIV. When the WHO was consulted again, they stated that 25 litres per person would be suitable for temperate climates but 50 litres per person is better suited to hot climates like South Africa. This was corrected in eThekwini Municipality, but unfortunately national government still uses 25 litres.

Initially everyone had free basic water, but after some time, this was only given to the poor. Ironically, free basic water greatly improved revenue collection, as strong credit action could be taken against non-payers using more than the free basic amount.

• Other awards

Often described as the Nobel Prize of Water, the Stockholm Industry Water Award honours outstanding water achievements. EWS is the only utility in Africa that has received this award. I was fortunate enough to travel to Stockholm to accept the award and retired that same year (2014).

A year later, Water and Wastewater International rated me as one of the top 25 water leaders in the world. This year, I have also received an Engineering Excellence Award from the World Federation of Engineering Organisations.

I am an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa (IMESA) and the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) (where I served as president in 2007). I am also a Fellow of the International Water Association (IWA) and the South African Academy of Engineering (SAAE), where I am currently the president.

What advice would you give to a young professional in the water sector?

Broaden your experience within a specialised field. Do not be a geotechnical engineer and a roads engineer and a water engineer; pick a specialisation, and then expose yourself to every aspect of that business. Do not stay in the design office – go and observe or get involved with the operations and construction.

Neil Macleod celebrating his award with delegates at the WISA 2022 Conference

Engineers also need to be managers, so invest in improving your management skills. And please, don’t leave the engineering profession. Banks and corporates love engineers because they are problem-solvers who think strategically, but your profession needs you.

I would recommend getting an MBA. It teaches the soft skills that an engineering degree does not provide. One must have a set of financial skills to motivate technical decisions or designs to a board or government. The phrase ‘trust me, I am an engineer’ will never suffice.

If you could grant the water and sanitation sector one wish, what would it be?

• For South Africa

Most of the problems within this sector are caused by bad management. I would therefore wish for a cohort of 200 competent water and sanitation provider managers that have a broad set of skills and can efficiently and effectively run all the water services authorities. I believe that competent people make wise business decisions and can push against political decisions that do not benefit the community they serve.

• For the world

To get rid of the ‘yuck factor’. I wish for a sanitation solution that uses no or a very small amount of water and can recover valuable nutrients and energy on the side. This would mean that wastewater treatment plants would only need to treat the residual chemical oxygen demand (COD) and microbiology, as the nutrients would be removed at source. The energy footprint of wastewater treatment plants and cost of the sewage pipelines would be reduced. I would like everyone (rich and poor) to have the same type of toilet.

What changes will we see in the water sector over the coming years?

The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge will gain more traction and there will be vast changes in sanitation technology.

Humans excrete phosphorous (a finite resource mined from rock) and nitrogen daily.

We cannot continue to flush nitrogen and phosphorous (that is used in agriculture)

and litres of potable water (a scarce resource that is expensive to treat) down a toilet.

Water finance will continue to challenge and result in a change in existing tariff structures. Water and sanitation service provision will be managed as a business.

The circular economy will play a greater role in all water and sanitation projects and operations.

Climate change was seldom mentioned a decade ago, but it has become a driver and key consideration when designing new infrastructure and implementing water resource management.

The world is moving towards decentralisation. Decentralised water and sanitation solutions will continue to grow in popularity.

Digitalisation and artificial intelligence will continue to positively contribute towards the sector.

I also predict that our local sector will be restructured. It is simply not viable to have over 140 water services authorities, –I believe that number will be reduced.

What are you doing now?

I am still working, mainly consulting for the World Bank, and the National Treasury Cities Support Programme, mostly focusing on turnaround strategies for water utilities. I have also been interacting with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2009 regarding the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, as well as Borda with decentralised sanitation systems, and Sanergy in Kenya with the sanitation value chain.

I am extremely fortunate to have had an incredible career, and remain passionate about ensuring that everyone has access to clean water and a safe environment. As an engineer, it is impossible to be bored when working in the water and sanitation space. Water and sanitation services have a profound impact on people’s lives and it is an honour and privilege to play a part in that.

THE WATER SECTOR BIDS FAREWELL to a class act

How did you find a career in water?

SR Some people may not know this, but I was a journalist before joining government.

My first post in government was at the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Department. This gave me a bird’s-eye view of how government operates, especially government communication. I engaged with different departments, provinces and local government and was the media liaison. I was then promoted

Sputnik Ratau – former spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) –displayed the professionalism and generosity he is renowned for by allowing Kirsten Kelly to interview him at his farewell, on the last day of his job.

which is essentially a spokesperson for a department.

I had a short stint as spokesperson for the Department of Minerals and Energy but have mostly worked in DWS (in it various forms) over the years.

What are some of the highlights of your career?

I was a part of history. I was part of the team that assisted the late Nelson Mandela in compiling information for his last State of the Nation Address and Thabo Mbeki’s inauguration. One of the saddest moments was the passing away of Water Sisulu, but at the funeral, Thabo Mbeki gave a eulogy, and I maintain that it was one of the best speeches that he ever gave. It was a deeply personal, moving eulogy. Another part of history was the announcement of South Africa as a host of the 2010 FIFA

World Cup – I was there with a team in Switzerland.

But some of the most moving experiences have been to witness service delivery and the impact that it makes on people’s lives. I remember delivering a flushing toilet to an 83-year-old lady with a facility to wash hands; it was not even in her house, it was outside. But to her it was life-changing. That makes you see the world through different eyes. I have travelled from wealthy areas to areas that are riddled with poverty and hopelessness. I have witnessed some incredible progress, but I have seen many people living in difficulty. This always reminds me that government’s role is to bridge the gap between the wealthy and the poor. It is important to bring hope to people through service delivery. I have travelled extensively – from the ancient city of Timbuktu to the Republic of Mauritania. It was difficult to be away from home and my family so often, but my work has been a genuine pleasure.

What advice would you give to a young communications professional in government?

Be humble, read all the time and ask

Sputnik Ratau, former spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation

Sputnik was named after the first artificial earth satellite, which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957

questions. Be accountable and be responsible.

Communications is a support function. It is an incredible job that consistently fills your mind with interesting facts. Communicators must have good relations with the content and even better relations with your colleagues who give that content.

Spokespersons must engage with the media at all times. If there is a negative sentiment or story, refusing to engage media will not make that story disappear – it will perpetuate the story. There will be an information vacuum and someone will fill it. By refusing to share information, a spokesperson tarnishes the image of government. You have the responsibility to share information; it does not matter if it is good or bad.

If you had one wish to grant the sector, what would it be?

Closer cooperation with each other. There are many pockets of excellence, but we all need to work together.

FAREWELL WORDS FROM COLLEAGUES

“This is a bitter-sweet moment for government communicators that are bidding farewell to this giant. We must take the baton and run with the business of communicating and profiling the government – national, provincial or local. You have done a sterling job. It has been a wonderful experience to work with you and to learn from you.” – DWS Communications Team

“Sputnik is always available – be it during his Sunday night dinner or in the early hours of the morning. I have never run a story and had to say that there was no comment from the DWS. I wish there were more government communicators like Sputnik. Be it a small community radio, or national news, Sputnik has made the time for each and every journalist.” – Chriselda Lewis, SABS journalist

“There were times when Sputnik would phone me, in a very professional voice, and say, ‘Two minutes’. He would then ask a technical question that I would try to answer in two minutes. I soon learned that this was usually just before he was about to go live on air as DWS spokesperson and wanted to verify facts or was sitting with a journalist. Sputnik’s ability to understand the technical side of the water sector and communicate that to the public is unsurpassed.”

– Leonardo Marnus, chief director: Infrastructure Operations and Maintenance, DWS

“I have always been comforted by Sputnik’s professionalism. I can always rely on him to get the job done. He is calm in times of crisis. He is no spin doctor; he has worked with integrity and has always simply told the facts.”

– Minister Senzo Mchunu, DWS

“Mr Ratau, you are a perfectionist, but have always been patient and available to assist me and guide me. I will miss you. Please do not change your phone number, I will still be phoning you.”

– Malusi Rayi, deputy director: Communications, DWS

“Today, government communications bids farewell to a legend, Ntate Sputnik Ratau. A consummate professional, skilled and astute communicator. A gentleman with a kind heart and warm smile at all times. Farewell Grootman.”

– Mlimandlela Ndamase, director: Mayoral Communications

“Sputnik stood out like a JoJo tank full of water.”

– Ashley Mendelowitz, businessman

The Anti-Pollution Task Team: achievements and future plans

WASA talks to Raquel Nosie Mazwi, director: Water Resource Regulation at the Department of Water & Sanitation (DWS), about the Anti-Pollution Task Team (APTT).

When was APTT established, and what is its mandate?

RNM APTT was formally established on 15 November 2019, with the purpose to identify and assess risks that can cause pollution in water resources and find remedies to mitigate pollution impacts in water. Furthermore, APTT must draft and implement anti-pollution management protocols and interface with other institutions (such as law enforcement) to ensure that polluters are brought to book. One of APTT’s key tasks is to monitor and ensure the implementation of the National Water Quality Management (NWQM) Strategy. APTT will also research international trends and new developments in pollution management.

This task team does not replace any of the departmental or regional functions, it is a mechanism to support existing functions in dealing with pollution matters and improving water quality.

How is the APTT structured?

APTT is coordinated by the deputy director general: Regulation, Compliance and Enforcement and is supported by the deputy director general: Water Resource Management.

It comprises 22 DWS members from both the Regulation, Compliance and Enforcement Branch and Water Resource Management Branch, as well as representatives from each regional office and the two established catchment management agencies.

An action plan has been drafted to implement the NWQM Strategy through APTT; can you provide some details?

This action plan comprises eight tasks, and each one has actions that detail what needs to be achieved within a specified time frame. Every task has a team leader that coordinates the actions within that task. The action plan gets monitored on a quarterly basis.

It has been updated to include the Water and Sanitation Summit’s suggested outcomes held in February 2022 and seeks to give effect to the commitment made by the Minister to improve resource water quality by 60% within 36 months.

Most regional offices have a Water Resource Management Forum that has developed their own regional action plan, giving effect to this national action plan. Some of these actions have already been achieved but most (due to their nature) are set over a long time frame.

(See Table 1 from page 24.)

Why are South Africa’s water resources declining in quality?

Old and unmaintained infrastructure is the primary reason. A major issue is wastewater treatment plants discharging non-compliant effluent into the water resources. There is also a lack of integrated planning when it comes to new developments, even though a region’s population is increasing, very little water and wastewater infrastructure is built or upgraded.

There are also a significant number of unlawful discharges and noncompliance with water use authorisations; some water users have no authorisations. Furthermore, when applying for water use authorisations, some users submit untruthful information. Verifying this information is a huge task.

Another challenge is that our officials are often intimidated or are not given access to a site when they conduct investigations, and they sometimes have to rely on the police to escort them to certain premises.

Lack of human capacity in the department is also a challenge; we need more feet on the ground to conduct compliance, monitoring and enforcement – we need to be a lot more visible. Currently, the DWS is undergoing

a restructuring process to try to address this need.

South Africa has a wonderful WQM policy and strategy, but it cannot simply live as a mere document. The APTT will assist in its implementation. Legislation, policies and strategies mean very little if they are not implemented.

What are some of the APTT’s achievements?

There are a broad range of achievements, and we are continuously working on the NWQM Strategy Action Plan. Here is a list of some of our progress:

• Classification of water resources has been done for most major rivers in the country and resource quality objectives have been set and will be continuously monitored for compliance.

• WQM monitoring has been reinstated in all the water management areas.

• Classification and mapping of WQ hotspots has been completed in Breede-Gouritz, Mzimvubu-Tsitsikama, Pongola-Mtamvuna, Inkomati, Limpopo and Berg-Olifants.

• Water Quality Planning level assessments are completed for all nine WMAs.

• Regional Water Quality Improvement

Raquel Nosie Mazwi, director: Water Resource Regulation from the chief directorate: Water Use Compliance, Monitoring & Enforcement Division, DWS

Plans have been drafted to improve water quality as committed by the Minister at the Water and Sanitation Summit held in February 2022.

• There has been accelerated processing of water use authorisations.

• The National Water Resources Strategy has been gazetted for comment and is currently busy with stakeholder engagement.

• A pricing strategy has been gazetted for public comment, which is currently busy with stakeholder engagement.

• The Mine Water Policy was approved in May 2022 by cabinet for implementation.

• The Unconventional Gas Regulations were gazetted for public comment in May 2021 and we are currently consolidating the comments into the final draft of the regulations.

• Water Quality Management Policy was presented to cabinet in August 2022 and approved for implementation.

• Compliance monitoring achieved 338 out of the 344 targeted inspections for FY 2021/22.

• Approval of tariffs has been given for the implementation of the waste discharge charge system (water resource management charge) in the Vaal, Olifants and Limpopo Water Management Area in FY 2023/24.

What is done once the DWS comes across a pollution case?

When it comes to enforcement action, three instruments can be used:

1. Administrative action – A person/ company/entity is issued a directive and requested to create a plan to address these transgressions. The DWS then approves and monitors that action plan. In most cases, this is sufficient.

2. Criminal action – This is where a

case is brought before the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and prosecution takes place.

3. Court interdict – This means that a person/business/entity must stop operations immediately and pay to rehabilitate the water resource.

The DWS periodically holds a compliance and enforcement blitz that is aimed curbing illegal water use activities. At times, as a last resort, when all other engagement has failed, the DWS will demolish or move the illegal water user’s infrastructure.

During the 2021/22 year, 182 pollution cases were reported. A total of 142 administrative enforcement actions were taken, three criminal cases were opened and referred to the NPA, while 40 cases were closed as they had complied with legislative requirements. There were also two successful prosecutions during 2021/22:

• In the State v Rand West Local Municipality, there was a plea sentencing agreement where the State accepted the guilty plea and the accused was fined R10 million – of which R7 million is suspended for a period of five years.

• In the State v Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, there was a plea sentencing agreement where the accused was fined R10 million, of which half is suspended for a period of five years on conditions. The Accused was sentenced to a fine of R5 million or imprisonment for a period not

A major issue is wastewater treatment plants discharging non-compliant effluent into water resources

exceeding five years, wholly suspended for a period of five years.

The DWS must follow strict intergovernmental protocol before even beginning the prosecution of other government entities, so these outcomes were a big victory and proved that it is possible.

What challenges do APTT experience?

As mentioned before, we are under-resourced; we need more feet on the ground and need to adopt new technologies to assist with monitoring, compliance and enforcement.

APTT touches on numerous departmental functions, and it can be difficult to bring everyone under one roof and coordinate everything. Therefore, APTT focuses on reducing any fragmentation and the adoption of a coordinated approach.

What message do you want to give to water services authorities and the private sector?

We say this so often that it is becoming a cliché, but I cannot stress enough that water is a finite resource that must be protected. This is a mammoth task and it cannot be solely left to the DWS. We rely heavily upon water users and other stakeholders, and we need them to assist us by having the correct authorisations and for them to comply with these authorisations. Self-regulation is so important – it will reduce the burden on us.

The DWS does not want to be seen as the department with the big stick; we want to partner with everyone and work together in protecting this precious resource. However, we do have a stick and we will act against noncompliance. We want to work together with the private sector. There are a lot of DWS initiatives that would truly benefit from public-private partnerships.

APTT is working hard towards improving water quality. We are extremely proud of our action plan and are determined to execute it.

One of APTT’s key tasks is to monitor and ensure the implementation of the National Water Quality Management Strategy

TABLE 1 NWQM STRATEGY

ACTION

PLAN Tasks Expected outcomes Actions

Draft submission to Minister on the establishment of the APTT Appointment letters to APTT members

Guidance meeting with Deputy Minister

1) Oversee the vision and strategic direction for the NWQM strategy

Fully implemented integrated WQM strategy

Monitoring of the implementation of the task team (monthly and quarterly meetings) and WQM forum

Improved communication and coordination between all relevant role players

Midyear and annual report on the progress of the committees

Approved action plan Action plan updates annually

Proposed WQM structure

Establishment of WQM framework in regions

Strengthened intergovernmental relations with other departments to improve water quality

Realigned and coordinated WQM programmes

National programme for waste management in communities

Request access to the levy for plastic and tyres to rehabilitate water resources

Introduction of programmes such as ‘Adopt a River’ in communities to assist in protection, rehabilitation and cleaning of rivers

Establish a ‘Working for Sanitation’ programme (aesthetic upgrades of WWTWs and implementation appropriate technologies)

Assessment of monitoring done by region

All regions to have laboratory contracts in place

Identification of monitoring duplication and gaps

2) Efficient and coordinated water quality monitoring (WQM) programme

Monitoring water quality at all strategic points

Operationalise structures in regions

Use of technology as an early warning system to deal with pollution promptly

Introduction of level 1, 2, 3 and 4 monitoring points

Realignment of current water quality management programmes to be in line with the strategic WQ objectives

Operationalise Integrated Regional Monitoring Committee

Investigate technologies to be used as early warning such as remote sensing

Assessment of which regions are using water management systems (WMSs) and challenges encountered

Appointment of WMS champions

3) Strengthen monitoring data and information management

Information systems that are current and accessible to support adaptive WQM

Assessment of data and data gaps in the system

Uploaded WQM data on WMS for all regions

Uploaded WQM data on IRIS for all regions

Realignment of WMS with other systems of the department

Drafting of a funding model for pollution incidents and socio-economic costing of remediation and rehabilitation of long-term pollution impacts

Implementation of the waste discharge charge system in three priority catchments

4) Pricing and incentive systems that support integrated WQM

Fully implemented polluted pays

Development of regulations for administrative penalties

Policy position of DWS on the implementation of the security by applicant

Memorandum of understanding with Department of Mineral Resources and Energy on financial provision regulations and other mine-related matters

Ensure that the RBIG funding prioritises comments from regulations

Partnerships with industry to improve WQ

Report on water quality hotspots in the country based on certain variables

Improve WQ by 60% within 36 months

Draft a framework for public-private partnership to improve WQ

Map risks

Report on water quality hotspots

Work with regional offices and other directorates in DWS to ensure buy-in, support and finalisation of WQ hotspots areas

Preliminary Water Resources Recovery Plan for hotspot area 1

Catchment-based WQ recovery plans

principle

5) Identification of water quality problems and hotspots

Improved water quality in

Approval of IWQM Policy

Approval of Mine Water Policy

Approval of the unconventional gas (fracking) regulations

Development of regulations for protecting strategic water source areas

Development of regulation related to compulsory National Standards for Process Controllers

Regulations on ELUs (to enable DWS to introduce new conditions)

Approval of the updated GN 704 Regulations

Updating of waste discharge standards to include methods for determining microplastics and other emerging pollutants

Borehole registration regulation

Water reclamation and reuse regulation (green hydrogen, acid mine drainage [AMD] and brine economy)

Update register/inventory for all WWTWs, mines, landfills and industries

Intervention plans for non-compliant WWTWs

Intervention plans for mines (AMD) and industries

Reduced

Revival of Blue and Green Drop, implementation of their recommendations

Priority implementation of IRIS and Hydronet

Improvement of water use authorisation conditions

Validation and verification of existing activities authorised under the Water Act (No. 54 of 1956)

Top management training of IWQM

Formalised training for all top management officials and

Training of law enforcement agency and municipal officials

Compliance promotion sessions/workshops

Establish WQ training committee

Assessment of capacity needs and gaps

Formalised training for all WQM officials

Drafting of formal training programme for WQ officials

Improve WQ capacity through appointments

Establish water resources inspectorate

APTT must adopt new technologies to assist with monitoring, compliance and enforcement

6) Implementation of key projects that directly impact on improving WQM

all catchments

7) Strengthen WQM regulation

pollution and improved water quality in all rivers

8) Capacitate WQM officials

external stakeholders

APTT was formally established to identify and

assess risks that can cause pollution in water resources and find remedies to mitigate pollution impacts in

water

When it comes to enforcement action, three instruments can be used: administrative action, criminal action and a court interdict

INDICATORS OF WATER QUALITY:

temperature, depth and conductivity

Water can transmit heat, sound and electricity. And Keller’s CTD multiparameter probe measures all three variables.

The acronym ‘CTD’ stands for conductivity, temperature and depth and is determined by the following sensor elements:

• conductivity sensor (conductivity)

• temperature sensor PT1000 (temperature)

• pressure sensor (depth). Since these parameters are directly dependent on each other, Keller incorporates three sensors into one device to provide compensated and thus highly accurate measured values.

Conductivity

The more dissolved ions (chlorides, sulfates or carbonates) there are in a substance, the higher its electrical conductivity. Thanks to the high number of dissolved ions, sea- or salt water has a conductivity many times higher than conventional drinking or fresh water.

Carefully distilled water contains very few to zero dissolved ions, which prevents the transportation of the electrical current in the water. Pure water has an extremely low electrical conductivity because of the lack of impurities within it.

Conductivity is determined by six titanium electrodes. The electrical current flow between the electrodes immersed in a medium is measured.

The greater the current flow, the higher the conductivity. Conductivity sensors for water bodies measure from a few micro-siemens per cm (µS/cm) to about 200 millisiemens per cm (mS/cm).

Some example values:

• distilled water – 0.05 µS/cm to 1 µS/cm

• drinking water – 300 µS/cm to 800 µS/cm

• seawater – approximately 50 mS/cm.

Temperature

Temperature changes in a substance also mean changes in conductivity. At higher temperatures, the number of dissolved ions and their mobility increases significantly and the conductivity therefore also increases.

The temperature can be read out as an independent measuring value, but Keller uses it to compensate for the other parameters. The PT1000 temperature sensor is located directly next to the titanium electrodes, so

the temperature and conductivity are measured at the same point.

Depth

Depth can be used to help calculate flow volumes and thereby convert pollutant concentration values into environmental loads.

The water depth is determined by the difference between the surface and the immersion depth. In measurement technology, one refers to the so-called water column. For example, a water column of 10 m corresponds to a pressure difference of approximately 1 bar. Factors influencing depth measurement in water include barometric pressure, density and temperature. It is important to consider that the pH of water can vary with depth in the water column.

The application dictates which of two different measuring methods is used:

• absolute pressure (related to vacuum)

• relative pressure (related to ambient pressure).

Keller’s multiparameter probe series 36XiW-CTD and the multiparameter loggers’ series DCX-22-CTD/DCX-22AACTD combine all the above-mentioned measurements in one device.

Instrotech is the local supplier of Keller, and the market leader in producing isolated pressure transducers and transmitters. It has a CTD multiparameter probe and multiparameter logger that measures and monitors the quality and quantity of drinking water.

Measurement device

Keller CTD sensor

By Ralf Christoph, GM, Hanna Instruments South Africa

A GUIDE TO

chemical oxygen demand testing

Part 2*

There are two types of test methods for COD – titrimetric and colorimetric.

Titrimetric

In the titration method for determining COD, the excess dichromate is reacted with a reducing agent – ferrous ammonium sulfate (FAS). As FAS is added slowly, the excess dichromate is converted into its trivalent form.

As soon as all the excess dichromate reacts, an equivalence point is reached. This point means that the amount of FAS added is equal to the amount of excess dichromate. Afterwards, a calculation is done regarding the amount of dichromate that goes towards oxidising organic material. This is based on how much was initially added and how much was left over.

Colorimetric

The consumption of dichromate can be calculated by evaluating the

change in the absorbance of the sample. The samples absorb at particular wavelengths due to the colour of trivalent chromium (Cr3+) and hexavalent chromium (Cr 6+). The quantity of trivalent chromium in a sample after digestion is calculated by measuring the absorbance of the sample at a wavelength of 610 nm in a photometer or spectrophotometer. Alternatively, the absorbance of hexavalent chromium at 420 nm can be used to determine the amount of excess chromium at the end of digestion to determine COD values. This method is easy and requires a four simple steps:

1. Digest the samples and a reagent blank. The reagent blank is just a sample of deionised water that is treated the same way as the actual samples. The blank can be reused for as long as the reagent batch lasts.

2. Let the digested samples and blank cool by using a test tube cooling rack.

3. Zero the instrument using the blank vial.

4. Read the samples.

What method is best? While both methods are Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) approved, they have their own advantages and disadvantages. An automatic titrator can reduce the amount of user input required and can be used for other applications in wastewater like alkalinity and volatile acidity.

Although colorimetry requires a spectrophotometer or photometer, it offers convenience since most manufacturers offer premixed reagents, so it is easy to run samples with the digestion chemicals and have minimal contact. Since all the analyst needs to do is digest the samples and let the instrument do the work, colorimetry is the most common method to measure COD.

*Read Part 1 of the story here:

HI932 titrators

HI83399 multiparameter photometer

COD (chemical oxygen demand) is a critical waste treatment measurement in everything from municipal systems to food manufacturing waste streams. It determines wastewater treatment effectiveness and diagnoses problems in treatment.

THAT

By Kirsten Kelly

MAGIC

The programme started in 2019 and will end in 2030. There will be three phases of four years each. It is unique in that there is a large focus on knowledge sharing, collaboration and governance. It has assisted in improving water resources and water services via four projects in the following catchments:

• Crocodile River Project – Inkomati/ Usuthu Water Management Area

• Vredefort Dome/Parys Project – Upper Vaal Water Management Area

• Blesbokspruit Project – Upper Vaal Water Management Area

• Msunduzi River Project – Pongola uMzimkulu Water Management Area

• Theewaterskloof Project (new) – BreedeGouritz Water Management Area.

“This is essentially a learning programme. We cannot solve all water management problems with a few projects, but we want the lessons learned in these projects to be applied in other regions. We hope that these projects will act as a multiplier, where their effect can be felt in 40 or even 400 different regions,” explains Marion Wierda, member of DWA and chief executive of the Blue Deal South Africa management team.

Since 2004, the Netherlands and South Africa have shared knowledge in the field

of decentralisation of water management and the political and strategic aspects of water management. This developed into the Kingfisher Programme in 2014 that assisted with the creation of various catchment management agencies (CMAs). The Blue Deal Programme has built on experience acquired through the Kingfisher Programme. It aims to improve rivers and wetlands in poor ecological condition, assist in water conservation, combat pollution, optimise wastewater treatment plants and reduce invasive species.

“There is plenty of expertise in South Africa; what the Blue Deal focuses on is bringing parties together, making them cooperate with each other. We have contacts in national, provincial and local government, as well as with a variety of stakeholders. We ask questions, put issues on the agenda, open discussions. That is the Blue Deal magic,” explains Wierda.

Dutch Water Authorities

“The Netherlands has over 700 years of experience in water management. There are 21 regional water authorities in the Netherlands. Essentially a delta area, nearly half of our country is below sea level.

Marion Wierda, member of DWA and chief executive of the Blue Deal South Africa management team

From left: Marion Wierda (present chief executive of the Blue Deal), Eustathia Bofilatos (director: Institutional Governance, DWS), and Hans Waals (previous chief executive of the Blue Deal)

In the Blue Deal South Africa Programme, local water institutions are working together with the Dutch Water Authorities (DWA) to provide 2.5 million people in South Africa with access to clean, sufficient and safe water. Phase 1 of the programme has come to an end.

We receive water from rivers from other countries. This makes water management for the Netherlands a national security issue, especially with the maintenance of the country’s system of dikes and pumps for flood defence. Half of our country would not exist without water management,” says Wierda.

Climate change has caused both torrential rains and drought in the country, posing an additional challenge for the DWA. “While we have a lot of knowledge and experience to impart, we also want to learn from other countries like South Africa on how they are dealing with climate change. We have already learned a lot from South Africa in terms of stakeholder management. It is well structured and fundamental in every project,” she adds.

Wierda lists three fundamental water management lessons that they would like to impart to South Africa:

1. Water management is a long-term issue: Water management is realised in small steps and it is important to have good, steady policy like the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (NW&SMP).

2. We are all in this together: There are many stakeholders and parties who are needed to improve water management and the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. Cooperation is essential.

3. Everything is here: South Africa is a country rich in both expertise and

resources. These resources can be best utilised if there is better alignment between the national, provincial and local government.

When choosing projects, the Blue Deal South Africa Programme placed huge importance on the support of stakeholders within the project. “We can use the energy and commitment from stakeholders to turn that project into a success. We also tried to have projects that had a good geographical spread and that covered a variety of water quality and water management issues.”

Wierda explains that Blue Deal South Africa is about listening. “We are not here to tell people how to do their jobs. It is about asking questions and building relationships. In order to develop any valuable insights, we have to work closely with everyone. It is a real privilege to travel abroad, gain experience in water management in other countries and make a difference. My work in South Africa has change my outlook. You begin to look at your work through South African eyes. I appreciate what we have developed in the Netherlands, but I also see inefficiencies where South Africans have implemented certain policies and technologies faster than the Dutch.

Hydronet

Hydronet has been used when implementing the various Blue Deal South Africa projects. A web-based

Last November,

for

operational decision support system, Hydronet, transfers weather and water data (from different sources) into actionable dashboards and reports. It can be used for historical weather information, compliance monitoring, water allocation, water balances and water quality monitoring.

Currently, there are over 500 users, which include the South African Weather Service, Gauteng Disaster Management, Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), Agricultural Research Council, as well as various farmers, CMAs and wineries.

Partnerships

The Blue Deal South Africa Programme is aligned to the NW&SMP, the National Development Plan as well as the Water Services Improvement Plan.

The DWS and DWA are working closely together to ensure the Blue Deal South Africa Programme’s success. Eustathia Bofilatos, director: Institutional Governance, DWS, says that water management is built on relationships; one may have great systems, but if there are no relationships between institutions and stakeholders, those systems will likely fail. “The Blue Deal South Africa Programme is built on collaboration between different spheres of government as well as the public. It has brought into focus the fact that we all need to stop working in silos and work more closely together, and pitch in to solve a particular problem together wherever possible, regardless of your allocated responsibility or mandate.

“The Blue Deal South Africa Programme has provided a much needed outside perspective on water management in this country. They are determined to get things done, and we all need a little Blue Deal magic at times. The only way that we can solve water problems is through partnerships between countries and partnerships within countries,” says Bofilatos.

Last November, Phase 2 of the Blue Deal South Africa was signed, symbolising the long-term commitment on both sides to continue the collaboration.

the agreement

Blue Deal Phase 2 was signed by Deputy Minister David Mohlobo and Deputy Director General Risimati Mathye of the DWS, and Hein Pieper – president of Blue Deal South Africa and founding father of the Blue Deal worldwide. Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands Janneke Vrijland proudly witnessed the event

Msunduzi River Project

RESTORING BLESBOKSPRUIT WETLAND

through bugs and home decoration

all the space. Furthermore, water hyacinth loses a lot of water through its leaves, reducing water reserves in the wetland.

Improving the water quality within the Blesbokspruit Wetland will contribute to cleaner and properly managed water for the Vaal Water Catchment Management Area.

Stakeholders of the project

Located in the Upper Vaal catchment within the quaternary drainage area (C21D) near Springs, Ekurhuleni, the Blesbokspruit Wetland is along the Blesbokspruit River, one of the largest tributaries of the Vaal River in Gauteng. However, the Blesbokspruit Wetland has been under threat from acid mine drainage as well as poorly operated and maintained wastewater treatment plants, sewer reticulation and stormwater systems.

The Blesbokspruit Wetland was awarded the prestigious Ramsar status, but it has lost this due to the poor quality of water. The large quantities of water hyacinth and lack of reed management can cause flooding, while other fauna and flora have either died due to the depleted oxygen reserves and sunlight or have been unable to grow, as the hyacinth takes up

Interestingly, traditional healers have been most interested in rehabilitating Blesbokspruit Wetland, as they use some of the flora (that has largely disappeared) in Blesbokspruit to make medicines. “The involvement of the traditional healers in this project has been helpful, as they are community leaders and can win over the local community in working together to restore and preserve Blesbokspruit. We are working with them so that they can grow their herbs and plants in the area and, by doing so, the local community will understand that any pollution will affect the plants and herbs that they use as medicine,” explains Mariska van Rijswijk, from the Dutch Water Authorities (DWA) and a team member of Blue Deal South Africa.

She adds that there is also a lot of enthusiasm from the many other stakeholders. “Blue Deal South Africa is

unique in that we provide assistance as opposed to funding. We want to create systems that are independent and do not rely on the DWA. These projects (like the Blesbokspruit one) need to be embedded in the local government and local systems, so that when the project is finished, it is self-sustaining. Our focus is on water governance and knowledge exchange. We facilitate projects and make parties work together.”

The Blue Deal South Africa Programme has connected a multitude of private and public entities together in the Blesbokspruit Project, including: the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS); the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD); Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality; the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE); the Centre for Biological Control (CBC) at Rhodes University; as well as traditional healers, community leaders and businesses.

Improving water quality

The Blesbokspruit Project is addressing the factors that impact the water quality and ecology on a practical scale, with key activities comprising:

• Setting up a monitoring programme

The Blesbokspruit Project (one of the five Blue Deal South Africa projects) works on restoring and optimising the health of the Blesbokspruit Wetland.

The Blesbokspruit Wetland was awarded the prestigious Ramsar status, but it has lost this due to the poor quality of water

on water quality: Here, the DWS will start reviewing the existing monitoring programme, explore opportunities for extra real-time and/or innovative sensors, data software like Hydronet, and decide upon new monitoring locations with help of Dutch experts and other stakeholders.

• Optimising the integrated management plan of the Blesbokspruit area by the GDARD: This will work with Dutch experts to optimise the existing plan on the themes of reed management and the water hyacinth. The goal of the management plan is to manage the reed and water hyacinth in such a way that is ecologically valuable, and the local community can reuse the harvested reeds and water hyacinth to craft innovative products.

• Developing a business case on reed and water hyacinth management: GDARD and the DWS will develop a business case to make the management of reed and water hyacinth cheaper and more cost-efficient. It is envisaged that this can be done in a manner through which local communities can profit from these activities and thus community members will be trained to do the harvesting of reed and water hyacinth.

• Allocating and using budget for additional sensors and probes: the DWS will allocate budget to buy extra sensors and probes to monitor the water quality.

• Constructing a pilot bio-bed: Bio-beds are an innovative and natural technique to purify surface water using local materials and plants. The aim is to construct one or more bio-beds in and monitor its contribution to the water quality of the wetland.

Biological control – bugs to fight against water hyacinth

A free-floating South American weed that

was introduced into South Africa in 1910, water hyacinth can produce hundreds of seeds per plant and remain viable for roughly 50 years. These seeds move between different water bodies, will lie dormant and then start to germinate when conditions are perfect (like nutrientrich water). Without natural enemies, water hyacinth has spread throughout the Blesbokspruit Wetland.

Water hyacinth is thriving in South Africa due to the damming of freshwater systems and the creation of artificial lakes, slowing down water movement and producing a similar environment to the Amazon Basin, where the water hyacinth was originally found.

The CBC is using biological control to deal with the water hyacinth. Biological control – or the development of hostspecific natural enemies – offers the most effective and long-term solution to many alien invasive plant species and insect pests. It aims to reunite invasive species with their natural enemies.

Residing at Rhodes University, the CBC has a particular interest in the development of biological control methods for invasive plants. The CBC focuses the majority of its research on understanding the ecological dynamics

of invasive pests, aquatic and terrestrial weeds. It has been using Megamelus scutellaris (water hyacinth planthopper) as a means of biological control for water hyacinth at a number of sites, including the Blesbokspruit Wetland.

“These are small (3 mm long), sapsucking insects that pierce the plant tissue, damaging cells. Damage in the petiole leads to water logging, which reduces plant buoyancy and causes the tissue to rot. This is evident once leaves start to turn brown, and sooty mould develops on the leaves,” explains Dr Rosali Smith, a postdoctoral fellow at the CBC who has been visiting Blesbokspruit since the end of 2020.

M. scutellaris is monophagous – it can only eat and develop on a target plant (in this case it is the water hyacinth). “We went through a vigorous, three-year process to bring these insects into South Africa. Two government departments (the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and

A 2021 satellite image of the Blesbokspruit Wetland, where the green, fluorescent markings indicate the extent of the water hyacinth infestation

The Megamelus scutellaris (water hyacinth planthopper) is used as a means means of biological control for water hyacinth at a number of sites, including the Blesbokspruit Wetland

the DFFE) had to approve a permit that allows them to be imported into South Africa where they can be kept alive in a special quarantine facility that is built to specifications where insects cannot escape. Here, host-specificity testing is done (under strict guidelines) with a variety of plants to validate that the M. scutellaris is monophagous,” adds Smith.

M. scutellaris specimens are given a diet of plants to see if they will eat, survive and develop on them. Plants that are closely related to the target plant are selected. The CBC starts with species in the same genus, and then moves on to plants that

are within the same family, and then in the same order. An extensive report is then written on the results and submitted to a scientific panel for review. Once the results are validated by the panel, and it is proven that the insect does not a pose a risk to South Africa’s indigenous fauna or flora, as well as agricultural produce, field testing can start.

There is an M. scutellaris rearing station set up at Blesbokspruit where the insects are collected and released on to the invasive water hyacinth. It takes time for the insect’s numbers to increase to a substantial number that is capable of causing visible plant damage. A few weeks after release, nymphs should be seen around the base of the plant and up the petioles (the bulbous stem). The population increases, and continues to feed off the sap of the water hyacinth until it eventually dies. They can also help reduce flowering; thus fewer seeds are introduced into the system.

“There is no quick way to reduce water hyacinth at present and until the seed banks are depleted, which will take years, regrowth from the seedlings is to be expected every year. Water hyacinth will never completely disappear, but it can be kept below a level that is damaging. Biological control is the most effective and cost-efficient method of controlling invasive water weeds, as well as being entirely eco-friendly and sustainable,” states Smith.

The CBC was introduced to the Blue Deal Programme by a Gauteng biodiversity officer. “This is an example where a lot of people are working towards the same end goal, but no one communicates with each other. We were really interested in all of Blue Deal’s efforts to improve the water quality at Blesbokspruit and are really excited about the fact that Blue Deal brought everyone together. This is an excellent opportunity to bring expertise together. For instance, we don’t specialise in water quality but we do monitor it, as hyacinth thrives in nutrient-rich water. Getting rid

of hyacinth is treating a symptom, not the problem. Therefore, using a water quality expert’s data will assist us,” maintains Smith.

She adds that the success of the project is dependent on everyone working together. “For instance, if the DWS sprays water hyacinth with a chemical spray, the M. scutellaris may die, or if water hyacinth is manually removed, the insects will be removed too. So there needs to be a lot of communication around how the water hyacinth project is tackled so that we do not waste resources. It is important to note that while biocontrol may take a longer time frame to work, it is often far more sustainable. But we can successfully use a variety of tactics if everyone works together.”

From water hyacinth to home decoration

Water hyacinth from Blesbokspruit is also being removed by the local community to make products that can be sold, such as woven baskets, rugs, office accessories, pet furniture and homeware. This improves the water quality while ensuring economic growth.

Tumi Mphahlele, a social entrepreneur, used the opportunity to contribute towards water conservation and uplift communities by creating these water hyacinth products under an entity called Thekga, which means ‘to support’ in Sepedi.

“Thekga is a collective of women on a mission to change the world, one drop of water at a time, through the eradication of alien invasive plants and the alleviation of

There is an M. scutellaris rearing station set up at Blesbokspruit where the insects are collected and released on to the invasive water hyacinth

A few weeks after release, nymphs should be seen around the base of the plant and up the petioles (the bulbous stem)

The population of M. scutellaris increases, and continues to feed off the sap of the water hyacinth until it eventually dies

poverty within the communities in which it operates,” explains Mphahlele.

The water hyacinth is harvested, the leaves and roots are cut and discarded, and the stems are sun-dried and then graded by size. They are then bundled, cleaned and stored for secondary processing. Secondary processing involves braiding in which the stems are spliced to create long bundles of rope.

A lot of research and development has gone into the development of these products. Hyacinth weaving is a novel technique in South Africa. After exploring modern methods, Mphahlele reverted to indigenous methods of weaving (looming) and coupled this with modern technology like steel fabricated frames for structure. The woven products are hand-braided and hand-loomed; however, hand tools are being procured to assist with primary processing in braiding.

“Once we have converted the stems into rope, we then use that rope as yarn to begin looming the baskets. Many hyacinths are needed to complete a basket. Each bundle contains 150 stems of water hyacinth. A small basket would typically use three bundles, with 450 stems of water hyacinth on average. We are also prototyping another briquette technology using the offcuts from the weaving as well as other alien invasive species such as wattle and sawmill waste,” explains Mphahlele.

encouragement from Dr Duncan Macfadyen, head of Oppenheimer Generations Research and Conservation, Debbie Muir from the Department of Environmental Affairs, as well Blue Deal South Africa to set my ideas in motion,” she explains.

Initially, Thekga was not allowed to harvest the hyacinth and create goods, as there was a focus on the total eradication of hyacinth and a fear that more hyacinth would be grown to create hyacinth products. But due to the long lifespan of hyacinth seeds (up to 20 years),

well as social development.

To date, 11 local women from the Blesbokspruit area have received formal entrepreneurial training on how to make products from water hyacinth. A team of creative freelancers comprising industrial designers and green architecture graduates is used for technical support.

Hyacinth weaving is a novel technique in South Africa

Expansion Project that expanded the current treatment plant with a capacity of 18 Mℓ/day to 58 Mℓ/day

Situated about halfway between Francistown and Gaborone in Botswana, Palapye is one of Africa’s fastest growing villages. This boom placed excessive pressure on the existing water infrastructure of the village and its surrounding areas. The Palapye Water Treatment Works Expansion Project will assist in meeting water demand for the region.

BIGEN delivers safe, reliable water to Palapye

Bigen was appointed as lead engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) designer on the Palapye Water Treatment Works Expansion Project that boosted the current treatment plant with a capacity of 18 Mℓ/day to 58 Mℓ/day that will service the area for at least another 20 years.

The contract was awarded in June 2019 with a project duration of 30 months. The letter of acceptance was issued on 28 June 2019 with access to site on 12 July 2019.

Expansion of the current treatment plant

A 40 Mℓ/day plant was constructed in two modules that operate in parallel. The project was completed within

the contract period and within budget, even while experiencing the full impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and its related restrictions.

The new plant processes were carefully developed to follow the same process train and design aspect of the existing 18 Mℓ/day plant to allow operators, familiar with the old plant, the ease of understanding and operation the new plant.

The 40 Mℓ/day plant includes the following process elements:

• inlet works

• flow measurement

• pre-chlorination with chlorine dioxide

• pre-liming

• blending tank

• coagulant dosing and coagulation

• pulsator clarifiers (two off)

PROFESSIONAL TEAM

Client: Botswana Water Utilities Corporation (WUC)

Contractor: Stefanutti Stocks/ Heinsite Joint Venture

EPC lead designer: Bigen

Local subconsultant partner (minor works): Mmowe Consulting

• rapid gravity sand filters (10 off)

• post disinfection by chlorine dioxide dosing

• modifications to the existing sludge handling facility

• modifications to the washwater recovery facility.

Palapye Water Treatment Works

CONTRACT VALUES

Client budget: P450 000 000 (Pula)

Tender amount: P345 472 296

Final cost: P386 841 038

Budget saving: 14%

Continuous improvements and alternative construction methods were applied to optimise the design of the treatment plant.

The pulsating clarifier structure was extremely complex, with suspended overflow launders and settling hoppers with submerged concrete inlet channel sections. Various members were redesigned as precast members and a precast yard was established onand off-site to construct these members concurrent to the main construction activities. This reduced the construction period significantly and resulted in substantial cost and time savings.

A jointing system using expansion joints, water bars, bandage systems and sealants on all structures was changed to an in-fill strip system, whereby separate panels (walls and

floors) were cast and allowed to complete the normal concrete shrinking process, after which the 1 m wide in-fill sections between panels were cast.

This required extensive planning between the contracting and design teams as the waiting period for shrinkage impacted significantly on the construction duration. These design changes proved to be highly successful as the quantities of reinforcing steel were reduced significantly, which resulted in cost and time savings. The success of this construction method was evident when the various sections of the water-retaining structures underwent watertightness testing without any failures.

As the new plant is located on an area next to the existing plant (with shallow rock), various design-level changes had to be made on the various structures to minimise rock excavation and save time and costs.

The existing sludge lagoons were used for the final dewatering of the sludge. An additional 20% hydraulic capacity was provided to enable the treatment plant to operate at an increased capacity of 58 Mℓ/ day when there is peak demand.

The hydraulic head available through the plant was limited, as the new 40 Mℓ/ day plant had to tie in with process infrastructure on the old 18 Mℓ/day plant. There needed to be careful planning as structures were raised and/or lowered while excavation proceeded to identify rock formations under the various structures. Interconnection to the existing infrastructure also posed a risk, as blasting was not possible close to existing

infrastructure that could be damaged as a result. The constant changes to design levels proved to be very successful, as no blasting was required on any of the structure excavations, which resulted in further significant cost and time savings.

The following ancillary infrastructure was also provided:

• construction of a control room with Scada walls, board room, offices, car ports, ablution and kitchen areas for the operators on the old and the new plant

• Scada integration between the new and old plant

• double- and single-storey accommodation units

• paving areas around operator accommodation units

• fencing of the old and the new plant

• modifications to old plant inlet works to accommodate split flow to both plants.

Automation

The design team engaged with the client operators and process personnel throughout the design and construction stages, and jointly selected reliable mechanical and electrical equipment that is locally available and supported, and known to the maintenance personnel. These included pumps, blowers, actuated valves, control and instrumentation equipment already successfully used on the existing and other plants operated by the Water Utilities Corporation of Botswana. Mechanical equipment is fully automated (with status feedback) and can be controlled via a Scada system from anywhere in the world. All processes are automatically monitored with online measuring equipment for pH, turbidity, chlorine content and flows. The high level of automation allows for only

Accommodation units

one operator to monitor and control the entire plant remotely.

A specialist water treatment expert was employed by the design team to provide formal process and operations training during the commissioning period up to handover. The services provided by the designer include assistance during the one-year defects liability period. For this, the designer trained a local citizen employee to assist the operators during the defects period.

A remote link to the plant utilising the Scada system was provided to allow the consultant to operate and control the entire plant remotely from its offices in South Africa. This remote connection will also be used to assist the operators in fault-finding and troubleshooting. All data is recorded and available to access for information and compliance monitoring during the period of operation.

Challenges

The first challenge was to achieve a fine balance between complying with the bid specifications and competitive pricing. The EPC contracting approach places a lot of the risk on the contractor, which may lead to increased prices if the risk cannot be brought down to the minimum. To be competitive, it was necessary to complete designs at a level of detail that would eliminate completion and performance risks with associated costs. This was done under extreme time pressure and there was limited deviation from the bid stage design.

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Botswana’s government instituted travel and other restrictions. This impacted both the movement of key design and construction team personnel, as well as the supply chains for many of the construction inputs.

However, due to the national strategic importance of this project, construction work needed to continue. Once special permission had been granted, the EPC team improvised their way to creating alternative operating procedures. This included a rapid migration to virtual meetings and supervision inspections, and the use of photography for capturing construction progress.

The EPC team demonstrated their commitment to maintain productivity, as many members were forced to endure long periods away from their families as a

precaution and to allow adherence to the travel restrictions.

Conclusion

The Palapye Water Treatment Expansion Project resulted in a secure, reliable and safe supply of water to an additional 500 000 people living in the towns of Palapye and Serowe, but also contributed immensely to the local economy of the region in the form of job creation, skills development and local economic expenditure.

Wherever possible, most materials and resources were locally secured where possible. This included the provision of accommodation, furniture, stationery, security, electrical materials, reinforcing, cement, aggregates, formwork, steel pipes, UPVc pipes, bricks, concrete pipes and general building materials.

Fifteen subcontractors were appointed, of which only four were non-local companies. The professional project team also employed additional services from a locally owned citizen subconsultant for the full duration of the project to assist with quality and project management, especially during the Covid-19 lockdown period.

The expansion of the Morupule Power Station (Botswana’s principal domestic source of electricity, located just outside Palapye) and the establishment of the new Botswana International University of Science and Technology (situated on the Tswapong Hills, south-east of Palapye) resulted in significant expansion of the town of Palapye. This project has therefore made an immense contribution to local industries and mines, thereby improving the overall quality of life.

Bigen was fully engaged in all dry commissioning, wet commissioning, trial operation and training activities. Full commissioning and the production of compliant potable water were achieved on 17 January 2022.

Filter and clarifiers

Washwater recovery

Precast clarifiers

Sludge pumps

CLIMATE CHANGE IN TAILINGS DAM DESIGN

The collapse of a Jagersfontein tailings dam in South Africa has again highlighted the need for binding global regulations of facilities used to store mining waste. Furthermore, environmental considerations must be an integral aspect of how tailings storage facilities (TSFs) are designed and operated. By

Multiday rainfall events, with high intensity over a short duration, are becoming more frequent and are not accounted for in the traditional TSF design criteria. Repeated spills at dams servicing TSFs have occurred at several mining operations in Southern Africa during the rainy season. Even though there was no single rainfall event greater than the 1:2-year return interval 24-hour event, two to three of these rainfall events were occurring every few days, with low but continuous rainfall in-between.

Some mines have implemented daily inspections of TSFs to detect early warning signs like sloughing or potential instability. Such inspections also detect damage of revegetated areas or signs of seepage and ponding of surface water. Although many of the early warning systems, monitoring and response plans in place today pre-date the GISTM (Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management), many of the elements being monitored have climaterelated triggers.

Higher-rainfall events have also been addressed with redundancy, such

as allowing for double the required decanting capacity of the penstock towers and outfall pipelines. Pools can therefore still be responsibly decanted in the event of heavy rainfall. The application of probabilistic analysis presents an opportunity to incorporate climate change models into various dam breach scenarios.

Water management has always been central to the responsible design and operation of TSFs. Rainfall variability is leading mine operations to consider reducing and optimising water consumption in plants and tailings production. Climate change has become an important variable, and new approaches must be implemented to account for these unprecedented changes. Climate-change-related interventions enhance the adaptive capacity of mines and improve the overall resilience of TSFs.

Standards

Responsible tailings management is really all about people – particularly the protection of vulnerable communities. The GISTM requires collaboration

SRK Consulting*

across multiple disciplines to develop an integrated approach to effectively manage the risks that TSFs pose to the environment and society.

There is a relatively small pool of available expertise in tailings management, as it is a niche field. With the growing focus on the safety and sustainability of tailings dams, the skills base is currently being stretched to its limits. It takes decades to build adequate levels of experience among practitioners, so there is no quick fix to the skills shortage.

Part of the complexity of designing and operating tailings facilities is the wide variety of material that the industry encounters in tailings. Being man-made rather than natural, characteristics and behaviour can differ considerably from site to site.

The mining sector is in a hurry as it works towards GISTM compliance, placing immense pressure on the capacity of consulting firms who deal with tailings.

*Authored by Bruce Engelsman, principal engineer; Grant McFarlane, principal engineering geologist; Ashleigh Maritz, principal environmental scientist

WESTERN CAPE water supply and demand – the situation

South Africa’s Western Cape province falls predominantly within two water management areas (WMAs) –the Breede-Gouritz and the Berg-Olifants.

By GreenCape

While South Africa is one of the most water stressed countries in the world with a medium to high baseline water stress (20-40% average annual withdrawal of available water supply), the majority of the Western Cape falls within the two highest water stress categories (40-80% and >80%).

Water supply system

The Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS) is a complex, interlinked system of dams, pipelines and distribution networks that supplies water to the City of Cape Town (CoCT),

West Coast District Municipality (which supplies water to the Swartland, Saldanha Bay and Bergrivier local municipalities), Stellenbosch, Drakenstein and Witzenberg local municipalities, and certain agricultural users.

Total water allocation for the system is 590 million m3 per year, which is allocated to various end users. Approximately two-thirds of the allocation is for urban use (including residential, commercial and industrial use), and the remainder is allocated for agriculture, which is predominantly used in the summer months. Irrigation to support agriculture constitutes the main

Augmentation schemes for the City of Cape Town

water use in these two WMAs, followed by urban water use.

Effective demand-side management

By the end of the 2020 hydrological year (31 October 2021), the WCWSS dam levels had recovered to approximately 101%. Water restrictions for the CoCT were lifted at the end of the 2020 hydrological year, and demand has remained well below 800 Mℓ/day since 2017.

The ongoing effective demand-side management, and resultant lower water use, was a key enabler in the recovery of dam levels. At the end of October 2020, the CoCT’s average water consumption was 30% less than its allocation of

Drought-stricken Theewaterskloof water catchment in 2018

URBAN: CITY OF CAPE TOWN

AGRICULTURAL (CAPPED)

URBAN: WEST COAST DISTRICT

URBAN: STELLENBOSCH

URBAN: CITY OF CAPE TOWN

AGRICULTURAL (CAPPED)

URBAN: OVERBERG WATER

URBAN: WEST COAST DISTRICT

URBAN: DRAKENSTEIN

URBAN: STELLENBOSCH

URBAN: PIKETBERG

URBAN: OVERBERG WATER

URBAN: DRAKENSTEIN

URBAN: OTHER

URBAN: PIKETBERG

URBAN: OTHER

intense rainfall events. Additionally, population and economic growth is placing an additional burden on water supply and sanitation systems, which in turn will have a negative impact on the province and consequently the country’s economy.

Augmentation schemes

Source: DWS 2018

Source: DWS 2018

358 million m3 per year (981 Mℓ/day) from the WCWSS. This highlights the importance and effectiveness of water conservation and water demand management (WC/WDM), as well as water efficiency interventions, and the key role it has in managing the use of water resources.

However, non-revenue water (NRW) for some municipalities in the Western Cape remains high and above the global best practice level (15%).

Lower than average rainfall necessitates ongoing demand-side reduction to avoid dam levels approaching the critical levels.

The climate projections for the Western Cape indicate a warming trend as well as drying in many areas, with longer periods between increasingly

Non-revenue water levels for Western Cape municipalities for 2020 (Source: DWS Dashboard, 2020)

BeaufortWestKnysnaSwellendamWitzenbergMatzikamaOverstrand Bitou BreedeValleyStellenboschCapeAgulhasLangebergTheewaterskloof

BeaufortWestKnysnaSwellendamWitzenbergMatzikamaOverstrand Bitou BreedeValleyStellenbosch

Figure

In order to address future water constraints, various augmentation schemes have been introduced or planned. Augmentation schemes include potable water reuse (from wastewater treatment works), groundwater development (new resources and artificial recharge), and large-scale permanent seawater desalination.

To date, the CoCT augments its surface water with 7 Mℓ /day from groundwater and springs. This is likely to rise by 40 Mℓ /day from the recently commissioned Table Mountain Group (TMG) aquifer when it is fully operational. Other phased augmentation schemes will contribute a total of 240 Mℓ /day by 2026.

To date, the CoCT supplies 75 M ℓ /day of treated effluent from its wastewater treatment works to 950 registered users, mainly farmers and businesses, through a 277 km permanent pipeline connection. This supply network will be extended to 938 km in the next 10 to 15 years.

CapeAgulhasLangebergTheewaterskloofCityofCapeTownCederbergSwartlandDrakensteinBergrivierMosselBayGeorgeSaldanhaBay

To download the report, scan the QR code below.

Figure 9: Overview of Western Cape Water Supply System allocations by type

10: Non-revenue water levels for Western Cape municipalities for 2020

Source: DWS Dashboard, 2020

Figure 9: Overview of Western Cape Water Supply System allocations by type

Figure 10: Non-revenue water levels for Western Cape municipalities for 2020 Source: DWS Dashboard, 2020

Overview of Western Cape Water Supply System allocations by type

R113 MILLION INVESTMENT into sewer pump stations

Last financial year, the City of Cape Town spent R43 million to upgrade and repair 33 vandalised sewer pump stations across its jurisdiction. This financial year, the City plans to spend over R70 million on upgrades at more than 30 pump stations.

sanitation infrastructure resources are safeguarded. I visited the Boystown pump station, which services part of Nyanga. It was vandalised in July 2022, where some electrical equipment including the ultrasonic sensors, lights and switches were stolen. The directorate has invested almost R1.6 million at this pump station to ensure it is fully operational again and can provide its valuable service to residents. Security upgrades here include installing a more secured fence, a hardened surface and a steel door at this site,” says Siseko Mbandezi, MMC: Water and Sanitation, City of Cape Town. In addition to the completed sites, the City is also busy working on 19 other sewer pump station sites. Every financial year, the City identifies the most critical pump stations in need of upgrades and repairs so work will be done in a phased approach to address these.

Engaged citizens

Sewer pump stations are an important part of the network. The majority of the system works on gravity but in cases where the sewage must flow uphill, pump stations maintain the flow to wastewater treatment plants.

A pump station security upgrade programme will see the addition of reinforced steel doors, concrete walls, CCTV cameras, guardhouses and security personnel.

The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate has already spent R14.6 million since July 2022 on repairing and upgrading seven sewer pump stations in Fisantekraal, Mamre North, Mamre South, Crossroads and Boystown in Crossroads, as well as Grey Road in Table View and Summer Greens in Milnerton.

Safeguarding critical infrastructure

“It was good to see the work that is being done to fix vandalised pump stations. These efforts aim to help ensure that these critical water and

While upgrades and repairs are taking place, residents are reminded they can help the City by reporting any information of theft or vandalism incidents. When pump stations are vandalised, they cannot operate and deliver the services to communities as they should. Pump station vandalism contributes to sewer overflows and affects healthy living environments for residents. Both citizens and government must work together to safeguard this critical infrastructure.

The Boystown sewer pump station in Crossroads following vandalism

Cllr Siseko Mbandezi, MMC: Water and Sanitation, City of Cape Town, at the new electronic control panel

Cape treatment works leads with energy-efficiency gains

This recognition affirms the City’s commitment to improving the quality of treated effluent, adopting energy-efficient operations and reducing the impact of climate change by lowering carbon dioxide emissions.

“The City of Cape Town is a beacon for all municipalities to drive quality and to certify their delivery of services against South African and international standards,” says Jodi Scholtz, lead administrator of the SABS.

SANS/ISO 50001 provides a practical way for all organisations to improve energy use through the development and implementation of an energy management system. “Since the plant also

has SANS/ISO 9001 certification to validate its quality management, it became easier to facilitate the certification process for their energy management system,” Scholtz explains.

In the past four years, the City has invested more than R179.8 million at the Bellville WWTP, which treats around 44.3 million litres of sewage daily. More recently, two contracts have been approved that will see a further estimated investment of more than R120 million for the last phase of the plant’s diffused aeration upgrade.

So far, the energy-efficiency gains include a more than R1 million annual saving in electricity costs, as well as an approximately 1 000 tonne reduction in carbon dioxide emissions each year. Overall, the energy saved is equivalent to treating 3 000 million litres of wastewater annually.

To obtain SANS/ISO 50001 certification, the Bellville WWTP had to develop an energy baseline,

implement performance criteria, procure devices to measure the energy consumption, and then develop an energy policy, as well as an energy management system to ensure efficiency of operations.

Process improvements

Key operational changes to further improve energy-efficiency include:

• Constructing three primary settling tanks to reduce the solids loading and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the wastewater before it is treated in the diffused aeration reactors. This will achieve at least a 35% reduction in COD, which means lower airflow is required into the reactors, resulting in reduced energy consumption.

• Replacing ageing blowers with modern, energy-efficient units. A new air distribution system with fine bubble diffusers in the three reactors will be installed with automated dissolved oxygen control. The reactors will be rebuilt to be able to perform full biological nutrient removal, and the new reactor zone configuration – with larger anaerobic and anoxic zones – will be more energy-efficient.

The SABS will conduct surveillance audits at the Belville WWTP over the next two years, as part of the terms and conditions to maintain SABS certification.

The City of Cape Town’s Bellville Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is the first South African municipal wastewater facility to meet the requirements for SANS/ISO 50001 ‘Energy management system’ certification by the SABS.

Jodi Scholtz, lead administrator of the SABS, and Mike Killick, director: Bulk Services, City of Cape Town Water and Sanitation Directorate, during an official ceremony to mark the handing over of Bellville WWTP’s SANS/ISO 50001 ‘Energy management system’ certificate

A bird’s-eye view of the Bellville WWTP

A tale of two cities

Cape Town is two cities in one: one is an affluent global city; the other is a city of poverty, slums, shack dwellers and homeless people, with little to no municipal services.

By Jemima Spring*, Professor Lesley Green** & Jacqueline van Meygaarden*

While it boasts some of the most glamorous suburbs in the world, in 2022 there were approximately 497 established informal settlement areas in the metro, with an additional 186 newly unlawfully occupied areas.

The population of 4.5 million people has grown by a million in the last 10 years, and swells each year with thousands of visitors, especially in the dry summer months from November to April. Eating, drinking, producing, cleaning, living, working and playing here, Capetonians collectively use around 750 M ℓ /day of water, and generate a tidal wave of sewage and greywater filled with chemicals and other pollution, which needs to be treated and re-absorbed by the environment.

Cape Town’s water and sanitation system includes 11 dams, 12 water treatment works, 500 pump stations, 130 reservoirs, 23 wastewater treatment

facilities, 20 000 km of pipeline and three marine outfalls. Maintenance teams respond to over 400 pipe bursts, water leaks and sewer blockages on an average day. Not everyone has access to water and sanitation at home though. Between 2011 and 2016, access to piped water grew by just under 19%, but there is still a long way to go. Informal settlements are served by 10 000 communal taps and 50 000 toilets, which is vastly inadequate.

The struggle continues

For that reason, water and sanitation struggles have characterised Cape Town in recent years – from the infamous toilets set up without any privacy in Khayelitsha, to prepaid water meters being forced on poor households, struggles over chemical toilets, the absence of sanitation, and ongoing battles over water pollution from inadequate wastewater treatment facilities that have not kept pace with Cape Town’s population increases.

The city’s polluted water bodies and surrounding oceans are the symptoms of its painful past and the inability of recent administrations to reimagine a city with collaborative water stewardship, service provision and housing developments that dissolve the barriers around which the city has been built.

Patterns of settlement, inclusion and violent exclusion around the peninsula were shaped by access to water, prime land and other resources – from the arrival of European settlers in the 1600s to the establishment of apartheid in the 1900s – creating a blueprint for the inequality that persists today. Of all the many threads woven into the fabric of modern Cape Town, water is the most important.

More detail can be found on waterstories.co.za/a-tale-of-two-cities

*Mycelium Media Colab

**Environmental Humanities South

Reusing water for irrigation helps to counteract water-shedding and

mitigating the challenges From load-shedding to water-shedding:

South Africa stands on a precipice in terms of its ability to deliver energy, clean water and safe sanitation to communities and industry.

By Dr Gunter Rencken, technical director, WEC Projects

In addition to challenges faced with ageing equipment and poor maintenance, water and wastewater infrastructure is also affected by regular load-shedding, and subsequent ‘water-shedding’, which can damage pumps, control and instrumentation systems. Water levels in reservoirs also drop to unacceptable levels in areas where prolonged power outages occur, impacting both industry and communities that rely on them.

One way to mitigate the negative impacts of the country’s current water and sewage situation is for industry and communities to reduce their water footprint.

From the start, large-scale water users operating treatment plants

need to assess their overall water losses. For example, in South Africa, it is estimated that there is a 40% difference between what municipalities bill for water consumption and what they produce. This imbalance is – by and large – the result of water leaks and theft. Solving this problem alone can result in huge savings and an overall reduction in water footprint.

This reduction in wastage, however, should go hand in hand with other low-tech, point-of-use solutions such as flow reducers and low-flow taps, showers and toilets, as well as more high-tech interventions like smart meters designed to monitor water usage and react under circumstances

of abnormally high consumption and inconsistent water flows.

A key response for mitigating the effects of water-shedding is the use of backup water supply systems. This solution is ideal for industrial users reliant on set production levels, as it reduces downtime and production losses. A properly designed and maintained reservoir could provide up to three days of backup water supply – more than enough to cope with the worst water-shedding scenarios.

There are also alternative water supply solutions such as boreholes and rainfall harvesting that can be bolted on to these backup systems, reservoirs

or existing water and effluent treatment plants. The greywater extracted from these sources can be treated to the required standards (from industrial and irrigation standards all the way to potable drinking water standards) and fed back into the production supply.

Community-level sanitation

Alongside the issue of potable water losses and interrupted supply, sewage overflows are a regular occurrence across the country, requiring an urgent mitigation response.

One solution is the NEWgenerator™ sanitation system, developed by the University of South Florida and built under licence in South Africa by WEC Projects under the Water Research Commission’s SASTEP programme.

NEWgenerator is a compact, portable and modular sewage treatment solution that can be built into a standard

shipping container. It incorporates an anaerobic digester to treat the sewage by breaking down microorganisms to produce biogas. Clean water is filtered out, with bacteria, viruses and any remaining solid particles removed, and then disinfected through a chlorination system. Up to 99% of the water can be recycled for reuse as flushing water for toilets.

NEWgenerator has been thoroughly tested in South Africa and its first commercial installation has already been deployed at a school in the Eastern Cape. The first-generation unit can handle waste for up to 120 users, while the latest version can be scaled up to handle as many as 1 350 users. As a further plus, the system can be designed to run on grid power or solar energy, helping to further mitigate load- and watershedding risks.

APE Pumps Split Case Pump

Operating Range

Flow - 10m³/hr up to 2500m³/hr Head - 4m up to 120m

Applications - General liquid pumping - Power plants - Bulk Water - Steel mills - Refineries - Chemical plants - Cooling and heating systems

The latest version of the NEWgenerator off-grid sanitation system can service up to 1 350 people, with up to 99% of the water being recycled for reuse as flush water

USING DATA

to fix SA’s water challenges

The right combination of data experts, technologies and engineering skills can give every water utility actionable information on everything from pipes and valves to pumping stations and sewage systems, writes

Chetan Mistry

We have case studies where customers stopped repeated disruptions and reduced their capital planning time by 75%. The answer is to use data intelligently and pinpoint the areas that need priority attention, then develop a longer-term plan for maintenance and replacements. But many utilities don’t do this because they think they don’t have enough information. That’s often not the case. They already sit on a wealth of insights through hubs such as Scada systems, but they don’t know how to use this to full effect.

The power of prediction

However, predictive data tools and services are starting to turn the tide and put water operators back in charge

of their sites and infrastructure. Today, leading water solution providers combine digital platforms with data literacy to help their customers develop future-proof networks that can handle variability. Assets connected digitally with sensors generate patterns that reveal many interesting insights, including maintenance status, underperformance, excessive energy consumption, flow, pressure, water level, pH levels, conductivity and numerous other metrics. The collected information can support operations and maintenance planning, alarms and service quality supervision.

Data flourishes with skills and AI

To create helpful analytics, service providers combine engineering, data platforms and tools such as machine learning. They also apply their expertise

to cleaning data, ensuring water managers avoid getting bad answers from poor-quality data.

Most data projects fall apart because they mostly focus on technologies and not the skills and processes that lead to better understanding of data. At the very least, you need a data scientist to find value in your data.

We enhance our data products with a deep bench of experts with backgrounds in mathematical modelling, system dynamics and civil engineering. Those make up the essential pieces of getting useful and relevant insights.

The upside is that if South African cities have the correct information, they can recoup millions in lost water revenue, realise maintenance savings and make crucial choices in terms of service delivery.

Chetan Mistry, strategy and marketing manager, Xylem Africa

DISABILITY, WATER AND SANITATION: how things are, and how they should be

Musa Zulu – published author, award-winning artist and disability activist – shares how a lack of water and sanitation facilities is often a life and death situation for disabled persons.

During the 27 years that I have spent in a wheelchair, 10 of my close friends and associates with disabilities have died. Three of them committed suicide and seven of them died from pressure sores that became septic due to lack of clean water and sanitation facilities. The three that killed themselves had lost all hope, but my heart will never stop aching for the seven who lost their young lives still holding on to hope for clean, accessible water and sanitised environments, where they could tend to their wounds without fear of further infection. They died holding on to that hope for a better

life promised to them by a new dispensation,” says Zulu.

The South African Human Rights Commission states: “The right to water and sanitation services is linked to the rights to life, dignity, health, housing, food, education, physical security, gender equality and the prohibition against discrimination – that lack of access to water and sanitation has many negative impacts.” In addition, the right to clean water was implicitly confirmed in the Protocol on Water and Health at the 1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Trans-boundary Watercourses and International Lakes. Article 5 (l) of the Protocol states: “Equitable access to water, adequate in terms both of quantity and of quality, should be provided for all members of the population, especially those who suffer a disadvantage or social exclusion.”

However, 28 years after the advent of democracy, there is a divide between progressive policy statements and people’s realities. Despite the Constitution promising equality and the protection of human rights, most people with disabilities still live in exclusion and open squalor, as opposed to their ablebodied counterparts.

Research studies in developing countries, including South Africa, indicate that persons with disabilities are still less likely to live in households with access to improved water and sanitation, and further less likely to live in a dwelling with hygiene and sanitation facilities on the premises – the fact is, they are faced with inaccessible pit latrines and water sources with steep steps at the entrance, narrow doorways

and unstable construction without handles or rails.

In most public spaces and private domains, persons with disabilities (in particular those with mobility challenges) endure the lack of access as a barrier often impossible or dangerous to overcome. This lack of access means that hygiene, self-navigation, socio-economic as well as leisure participation are limited or non-existent for these members of society. The situation is even more dire in townships, rural areas and inside the sprawling shack settlements where even the last line of human decency and privacy is lost.

“I have lost count of how many persons I have visited over the years during their early days of disability. But I will never forget the haunted look in their eyes as they told me of the one crippling fear that, when the day finally comes for their discharge from those rehabilitation institutions, they will be returning to a daunting challenge of their private and community settings where access, particularly to a toilet facility, is non-existent. How could they not be scared when evidence from a number of developing countries indicates that more than one in seven persons with disabilities finds the toilet at home hindering or not accessible. The ugly realities of non-inclusion in our society need addressing urgently – we need to understand the reality to offer pragmatic and practical solutions,” adds Zulu.

Musa Zulu – published author, award-winning artist, motivational speaker and disability activist – spoke at the WISA 2022 Conference

How water and sanitation should be

There are a number of actions to be considered to address the poor environment people with disabilities live in:

• Mainstreaming – incorporate accessibility into the planning and design of all water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities. Disability audits in public and private spaces must be carried out to improve, or construct, accessible toilet facilities to enhance access. The whole chain of design should be considered – from accessible hallways/pathways to adapted toilet facilities that allow the independence (and privacy) of a disabled individual.

• Knowledge management –building the capacity of water and sanitation practitioners’ holistic understanding of disability-related needs and accessibility matters, and encouraging them to consult with persons with disabilities in the processes of executing their development mandate.

• Inclusion – the participation of persons with disabilities in the planning, design, operations and maintenance of water and sanitation projects. People with disabilities should form part of Community Water and Sanitation Councils (CWSCs). CWSC membership should be upskilled to qualify as future local WASH practitioners who can come

back to their communities to design and adapt water/sanitation facilities and systems to meet appropriate and sustainable disability standards.

• Employment of people with disabilities – water and sanitation sector stakeholders (government, private sector and civil society) must shift away from merely focusing on the need to employ 2% of their staff with disabilities but rather ensure that the voices of those still excluded are heard, involve persons with disabilities in the conceptualisation and implementation of inclusive systems, build practitioner capacity, and address the physical, institutional and social barriers that persons with disabilities are facing in accessing WASH facilities in their communities.

“Spatial apartheid has entrenched the deliberate act of putting marginalised

people in remote areas that make access to economic, social and educational opportunities difficult. This scarcity of resources means that these areas had been unable to invest in a wide range of road safety, WASH, education and enforcement measures that had proven successful in developed areas. Accessible water and sanitation infrastructure is crucial for going to school, holding down a job and participating in the community for all persons across the spectrum, including that of disability. Creating accessible infrastructure isn’t just the right thing to do – it makes economic sense as well. That’s because it benefits not only persons with disabilities, but also family members who take care of them, freeing up their time and resources to carry out productive activities,” concludes Zulu.

PRECAST SOLUTIONS FOR STORMWATER AND SANITATION

Within this field, precast manufacturer Rocla and sister entity

Technicrete (both forming part of the IS Group) continue to field purposedesigned solutions for upgrade, mitigation and repair projects across South Africa.

Recent examples within the sanitation field include the supply of Rocla’s rolling joint spigot and socket pipes for flood damage repairs to the main sewer line along Queen Nandi Drive in Durban. In total, around 41.48 m of 1 350 mm diameter pipe was supplied from Rocla’s factory in Roodepoort, Gauteng.

Hazeldean Boulevard

Various integrated IS Group solutions have also been supplied recently for the Hazeldean Boulevard upgrade, which forms part of the Riverwalk Road Project near Pretoria East. Carried out by Kwa Mhlanga Construction, the

project scope aims to reduce traffic congestion between the Blyde and Silver Lakes residential estates, in addition to improving stormwater infrastructure. Rocla supplied 1 564 interlocking joint pipes of varying sizes, while Technicrete delivered close to 7 km of Fig 7 (semi-mountable) and Fig 10 kerbs, as well as 3 500 m2 of Armorflex 180, an articulating concrete block system.

Ideally suited for lining trapezoidal channels, a distinctive feature of Armorflex 180 blocks is that they provide a loose, but sophisticated interlocking design. This allows the surface to remain flexible to movement during stormwater or flooding events, safeguarding the overall integrity of the system.

Whether for new or existing developments, adequate stormwater provision has become increasingly important to combat extreme weather events and flooding, as well as protect general infrastructure

Rocla supplied rolling joint spigot and socket pipes for flood damage repairs to the main sewer line along Queen Nandi Drive in Durban

An Armorflex 180 installation

Rocla’s interlocking joint pipe is purpose-designed for use in stormwater applications

PVC is the most effective and long term solution

PVC pressure piping production started in about 1935 and since then it has been through plenty of technical advancements which lead to PVC-O (Oriented Polyvinyl Chloride). Since the creation of PVC-O, it too has been through 5 improve ments over the last 40 years. Blue PVC-U (Unplasticised Polyvinyl Chloride), PVC-M (Modified Polyvinyl Chloride) and PVC-O (Oriented Polyvinyl Chloride) pressure pipes lead the potable (drinkable) water supply and reticulation market.