Water

Waste-water works are being upgraded.

Anew tender was issued in 2020 for the completion of a 35-megalitre-per-day upgrade of the Darvill Waste-Water Works. The facility receives and treats both domestic and industrial waste-water from the city of Pietermaritzburg.

A provincial Water Intervention Plan is being rolled out in hotspots where municipalities are struggling to provide consistent services. The water-stressed districts to benefit from this project are Ugu, uThukela, uMzinyathi, Amajuba, Zululand, uMkhanyakude and Harry Gwala. The main pipelines of Kokstad and Underberg are receiving upgrades, as are the water supply systems at Bergville, Skhemelele and Moyeni Zwelisha.

The area north of the Durban central business district is one of the fastest-growing urban areas in South Africa, with a number of large office and accommodation projects going ahead simultaneously. This is a welcome development for the economy, but the new buildings also create pressure on infrastructure.

The multi-year, R250-million Northern Aqueduct Augmentation project was initiated in 2014 and the fifth phase of the project is underway. This will provide water for Durban North, Umhlanga, Newlands, KwaMashu, Phoenix and Cornubia.

Two new dams will add 800-million litres of water per day to the available supply in KwaZulu-Natal. As part of the lower uMkhomazi bulk water scheme, utility Umgeni Water will spend about R26-billion on the Smithfield Dam and R2.4-billion on the Ngwadini Dam.

Umgeni Water currently supplies more than 472-million cubic metres of potable water to its six large municipal customers: eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, iLembe District Municipality, Sisonke District Municipality, Umgungundlovu District Municipality, Ugu District Municipality and Msunduzi Local Municipality. The company has five dams, 10 waterworks, five water-treatment plants and two waste-water works, including Darvill.

Large parts of the northern part of the province are served by Mhlathuze Water. The utility has assets valued at more than R3-billion and its area of supply covers 37 000m².

New technology has been installed at the Verulam Wastewater Treatment Works of the eThekwini Municipality. Murray & Roberts Water and its European technology partner, Organica Water, has installed an environmentally-friendly system.

Richards Bay has installed a 10-container desalination plant next to the municipal water treatment plant at Alkanstrand. The first mobile sea water purification unit in South Africa, it comprises 10 containers and is located adjacent to the water treatment plant at Alkantstrand. It can deliver 10 megalitres of drinking water. However, the high cost of electricity means that the unit is used sparingly. Solar energy is being investigated as a possible alternative.

In 2018 JG Afrika delivered a R72-million desalination plant to South32’s Hillside aluminium smelter in the same town. ■

ONLINE RESOURCES

Mhlathuze Water: www.mhlathuze.co.za National Department of Water and Sanitation: www.dwa.gov.za Umgeni Water: www.umgeni.co.za Water Research Commission: www.wrc.org.za SECTOR INSIGHT Water hotspots are getting urgent relief.