15 minute read
Water
Restructured water boards have greater responsibilities.
Anew organisation has been formed to help municipalities deliver services. Research has shown that many municipalities, which in South Africa are the main delivery agent of water and waste-water services, are either functioning very badly or barely functioning at all.
According to Water Wheel magazine, 37% of water delivered to the nation’s municipalities is lost, at a cost of R7-billion per year. This presents an opportunity for innovative companies to provide better pipes and smart meters.
The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) falls under the Ministry for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and will assist municipalities to plan for, provide and maintain infrastructure. The first action of MISA was to commission 81 engineers and town planners to get to work in areas that need the most help.
A study jointly commissioned by the Water Research Commission and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) found that the country’s four-in-a-million ratio of engineers is a long way from the required 50-per-million. One response at national level was the importation of Cuban engineers to assist in the short term.
Another response to the municipal problem is a new national strategy which gives a bigger role to well-resourced water boards such as Umgeni Water and Sedibeng Water. Rand Water has expanded its original footprint and now serves an area which includes Gauteng, and parts of Limpopo, North West, Mpumalanga and the Free State. The national Minister of Water and Sanitation is the shareholder, representing the government of South Africa.
In terms of the National Water Resource Strategy, catchment area management agencies have been established to oversee water resource management on a regional basis. The Imkomati-Usuthu Catchment Management Agency covers Mpumalanga, parts of Limpopo and part of the Kingdom of Swaziland. Another example of a CMA is the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency in the Western Cape.
The National Water Resource Strategy takes into account groundwater to a far greater degree than previous plans. Extracting groundwater takes skill and money, but with droughts becoming commonplace it is likely to become a much higher priority in water planning.
SECTOR INSIGHT
Companies and households are focussed on water saving like never before. • An agency has been created to help municipalities deliver water.
Innovation
A long drought was finally broken in most of the country in late 2016, but the Western Cape continued to experience severe shortages until mid-2018. Tenders for desalination in various guises (including barges in Cape Town harbour) were issued and there is no doubt that a new phase in water management has begun.
Water harvesting (including installing tanks to collect rain water from roofs) has not been comprehensively exploited. Innovators and investors in the sector have a lot of scope to develop products and systems to help South Africa harvest rain water, store water and reduce consumption.
The Danish government has an agreement to help the South African government with water management and water efficiency. Companies such as smart-meter specialists Kamstrup are already active in the country.
A Western Cape company has developed a mobile unit for the South African National Defence Force that can produce drinkable water from any source, including sea water. Malutsa’s Blesbok Project has the potential to be converted to civilian use in situations such as refugee camps or remote and dry areas which services cannot reach.
The National Department of Science and Technology is piloting a Point-of-Use (POU) project in Malatane village in Limpopo, Eastern Cape and North West. The project is part of the department’s Innovation Partnership for Rural Development Programme (IPRDP), which is supported by the European Union.
Large projects
The distribution of South Africa’s water means that large quantities must be piped to urban concentrations. The Vaal basin, which serves the most populated and industrialised part of the country including Johannesburg, receives water from seven inter-basin transfer schemes. In 2017/18 the National Department of Water and Sanitation spent R12.5-billion on dams, water transfer schemes and bulk distribution. The completion of the De Hoop Dam in eastern Limpopo means that people living in small municipalities can now expect bulk water delivery. The Trans Caldeon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) is responsible for bulk water supplies. The De Hoop Dam is the centrepiece in the large Olifants River Water Resource Development Project.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the first phase of the Spring Grove Dam in the Mooi River area has been completed on schedule and has increased water supplies in the Umgeni River catchment area. A new reservoir (Waterloo) near the King Shaka International Airport, and serving this northern area, has been constructed as part of the master plan that will see water delivered to this reservoir from the Northern Aqueduct Augmentation Project.
The Western Aqueduct project (valued at R864-million) and the associated Northern Aqueduct Augmentation Project will inject water into the rapidly developing area north of Durban. The Tugela Bulk Water Scheme (valued at R1.4-billion) will supply water to KwaZuluNatal’s North Coast.
A water supply and hydropower project is planned on the Umzimvubu River in the Eastern Cape, under the control of the National Department of Water and Sanitation. The Umzimvubu catchment and river system stretches for over 200km from its source in the Maloti‐Drakensberg watershed on the Lesotho escarpment to Port St Johns.
Amatola Water is a leading water provider in the Eastern Cape. The body manages bulk water infrastructure across 50 000km², encompassing the district municipalities of Chris Hani and Amathole and portions of other municipal areas.
ONLINE RESOURCES
National Department of Water and Sanitation: www.dwa.gov.za South African Water Research Commission: www.wrc.org.za Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority: www.tcta.co.za Umzimvubu Catchment Partnership Programme: www. umzimvubu.org Water Institute of South Africa: www.wisa.org.za
Malutsa
A leading South African water treatment company, specialising in the design, engineering and manufacturing of water treatment equipment and systems.
Co-founder of Malutsa, Nathan Herbert.
What we do
Malutsa constructs fully functional water treatment plants using the latest technology sourced locally and globally in order to meet the particular need of each client.
Malutsa often supplies reverse osmosis water treatment plants to rural municipalities in water-stressed areas. Complex treatment processes ensure that the wastewater is compliant for discharge into environmentally sensitive areas.
World class
In 2005 Malutsa played a role in relief efforts around the Indian Ocean tsunami, having been approached by government departments of the Maldives and South Africa, the Red Cross and the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Staff
A staff complement of between 120 and 150 has extensive experience in water and wastewater treatment. The founders of the company have decades of high-level experience: Bernard Cannon in chemical engineering, Nathan Herbert in mechanical engineering.
Since the 1980s both men have been pioneers in the development of industrial applications for tubular reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration membrane technology and systems.
In terms of technology and chemical process engineering, Malutsa has the backing and support of some of the most experienced professional engineers in water and wastewater treatment. Malutsa also has supply agreements with and access to the technology of leading international companies in the chemical manufacturing, membrane and ultraviolet technology fields.
Innovative technology
The landmark Blesbok Project has created a cutting-edge mobile water purification plant for the South African National Defence Force through Armscor. This extremely adaptable, robust and efficient unit is now the focus of the world’s first continuous-line production of the mobile water plant at the new custom-built Malutsa factory in Wellington.
Key markets
Anywhere that desalination, water treatment, effluent treatment and specialised separation of process streams is required. All major industrial sectors, municipalities, aid organisations, NGOs, military.
Malutsa is the Southern African representative of the largest supplier of ultraviolet (UV) disinfection systems in the world, Trojan Technology. Malutsa has established the largest UV plants in Africa on behalf of Trojan.
The new office block and factory premises that Malutsa built to create an assembly line for production of the cutting-edge Blesbok water treatment plant.
Vision
We aim to be the leading local and global brand in bespoke and line-produced mobile and static water treatment and desalination systems.
Mission
Design, engineer, manufacture and install water treatment systems to empower industry, municipalities, militaries, hospitality and allied institutions with cutting-edge technology that meets immediate and strategic water needs.
Strategic objectives
Five fundamentals identified: • Create unique environment where selfactualisation meets excellent market offering. • Develop human capital holistically. • Excel in product offering. • Ensure company existence. • Develop a culture of ownership.
Strategic intent
Malutsa has an unwavering commitment to becoming a leading local and international player in a fiercely competitive and dynamically evolving water treatment environment.
The uniqueness of the post-apartheid industrial engineering landscape allows our innovative and entrepreneurial company to model a new paradigm in developing human capital. We intend to fulfil the desire for world-class attitude and world-class capability.
Our objective of redefining the stereotypical opinion of an African world player and leader in an intensely technical field is paramount to the passion and drive we advocate internally at Malutsa.
CONTACT DETAILS
Malutsa House, 1 Meent Street, Wellington Industrial Park, Wellington 7655 Tel: +27 (0)21 864 2620 Email: admin@malutsa.co.za Website: www.malutsa.co.za
Ground-breaking mobile unit delivers pure water – anywhere
The Blesbok Project is a game changer for water specialists Malutsa.
Blesbok is a mobile water provisioning system for the military which is able to purify all types of water including ground water, sea water and reclaimed water. In addition, the unit can exploit surface water, store water and deliver water packaging via sachets and bottles.
The problem
The South African National Defence Force needed to update its water provisioning systems for rapid deployment forces. Eight companies submitted bids. The signing of the deal by the Armament Corporation of South Africa (Armscor) to develop the state-of-the-art Blesbok Project was a watershed moment for Malutsa.
Long associated with 21st-century technology and world-class standards in the field of water treatment plants, the large and sophisticated Blesbok Project has given the Malutsa staff a chance to shine.
Experience
The Malutsa team has experience of delivering highquality water in remote areas. With the North-West University, the Water Research Commission and the Meridian Trust, Malutsa delivered a desalination plant to the village of Madibogo, converting polluted ground water to potable water. When the Indian Ocean tsunami hit in 2005, Malutsa was part of the solution in providing water to disaster-struck communities.
The solution
Conceived and designed by Malutsa engineers and staff, the Blesbok mobile plant is tough enough to cater for bone-dry deserts and the bucking decks of navy boats at sea: it goes where the military goes. It is also versatile enough to use whatever water is available to produce drinkable water. The unit needs to be configured to cope with each kind of source
water (it can’t do two kinds at the same time) but easy-to-follow instructions are built into the unit and every component has its place so it’s easy to see if something is missing.
Storage and delivery
Water is stored in two ways: self-supporting tanks and bladder tanks. The self-supporting tanks have a capacity of between 10 000 and 40 000 litres while the bladder tanks can hold between 3 000 and 10 000 litres.
Blesbok is also a self-contained packaging unit. In an hour, the unit can either produce up to 1 200 sachets of purified water or can fill up to 1 200 one-litre bottles.
Factory
With the contract won, Malutsa had to produce 60 mobile purification plants in short order. Having built and developed Malutsa House themselves (and essentially sponsored the creation of a construction company to get it done), Malutsa set about building another new warehouse and office complex across the road from headquarters in 2015 to accommodate the punishing production schedule for Blesbok.
By 2017, the spanking new factory space was up and running, together with an office complex. Altogether the new space covers about 4 000 square metres within the Wellington Industrial Park.
Applications
The Blesbok Project was designed for military use and so there will be other militaries around the world who become potential buyers for this innovative and successful product.
But the potential applications of the technology are vast. Few clients will be as demanding as the military and so there is enormous potential for producing versions of Blesbok that might be less robust but no less effective. Villages in remote areas that need pure water, aid agencies that regularly need to respond to crises such as flooding or earthquakes, refugee camps that spring up overnight without any infrastructure, government departments or research bodies doing work in water-scarce areas – all of these are possible applications for future iterations of Blesbok.
Empowerment
As much as Bernard Cannon and Nathan Herbert are the company founders and the institutional memory of Malutsa, the young staff members who are taking the tubular reverse osmosis and membrane technology forward are clearly committed to the project and eager to learn. The work ethic at the company is strong, and the sense of pride in the Blesbok Project is tangible.
Bernard Cannon
BIOGRAPHY
Bernard Cannon is a founder and Managing Director of the Malutsa Group of Companies which includes Malutsa Water and Bernali Designs. He is an entrepreneur who diversified the business to secure collateral for expansion of the group with the view to the creation of employment and opportunities. An analytical chemist by profession, he was part of the pioneering team that introduced tubular membrane systems into the water and wastewater treatment market in South Africa.
Meaningful empowerment: being the change in people’s lives
Malutsa Managing Director Bernard Cannon shares his views on bringing the latest in water purification technology to market.
How did you get started in this business?
My business partner Nathan Herbert and I have been in the water purification business for the past 30 years, being involved since the advent of membrane technology in South Africa. Support and research by the Institute of Polymer Science at Stellenbosch University was formatively critical at this stage. Ground-breaking work on tubular reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration membranes led to pilot plant construction and work being conducted in the ‘80s. This led to accelerated industrialising of the novel technologies with the help of facilitating organisations like the CSIR and WRC.
What is the ownership structure of Malutsa?
The ownership has changed over the years. After the democratic elections, we had investment from a Scottish company, which took 30% in 1997. In 2005 that shareholding was sold to Veolia Water but we bought out the whole company in 2016. Nathan is a mechanical engineer and I have the chemical engineering background, so we complement each other well.
Why is empowerment so important for you?
Historically, chemical engineering was a no-go for our people. We are very aware of the injustices of the past, and so empowerment is at the core of what we do. In everything we have done, it has been to grow people and expand their skills base. We have always done things for ourselves; we empower ourselves and others by this ethos.
Please give an example.
Even in construction of this building (Malutsa House, pictured above), we took people and helped them learn the skills to go into construction. After this building was finished, that group went on to form a construction company, and that has formed part our enterprise development drive. We have helped them financially, and
with business skills. This is enterprise development in real terms.
We are exposing young people to opportunities and giving them choices. Studies are paid for and are actively encouraged and suppported.
Tell us about your expansion across the road.
Construction of the new factory and offices across the road (about 4 000sqm) began in 2015 and was completed in 2017. We realised we need more space for the Blesbok Project. We needed to manufacture 60 mobile purification plants, quickly. We needed to make a plan.
We have also developed the idea of a continuous production line for mobile purifiers, the first of its kind in the world. We developed this entirely with our own in-house architects and engineers.
How up-to-date is the technology you are using?
We were part of the team that pioneered tubular membrane technology in South Africa, so we have been aware of all the changes along the way. This has allowed us to stay current. We can say with pride that we have been part of this technology journey all the way.
Has your business journey been interesting?
There have been many challenges along the way, but it has been exciting! The Blesbok Project was really delivered against all odds. We have been the developers and designers of these very unique mobile purification units, mobile bottling and sachet plants.
Does the unit have wider applications?
The military option is obviously quite expensive because of the very high specifications for the military. If we produce something that is less robust, then it will cost less. It can have multiple applications, in remote areas, for flood relief, etc. The list goes on. We are certainly looking at developing it further.
Please comment on the South African water sector.
It was intimated 20 years ago that South Africa was on the way to being an arid country. People ridiculed the idea, but now water is being talked about as “liquid gold”. For us it is not just about business, it is about keeping our people-centred approach. We really want to be the change in other people’s lives.
We believe that water re-use is the key. The only thing holding back the development of this strategy is the psychological block. We are helping developers and building owners who want to make their buildings “green” or get off the grid. The hotel sector is another important sector. We also specialise in bespoke plant construction.
