“It is important to investigate and invest in WWTW infrastructure and the newer technologies available, to increase both the capacity of the existing works and treatment efficiencies.” Jacques Nieuwoudt Process Engineer,
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Significant investment in water infrastructure is more vital than ever to secure South Africa’s water future.
As demand begins to outstrip supply, our ageing and overcapacitated infrastructure, high levels of non-revenue water and the current drought are putting increasing pressure on utilities to step up infrastructure construction and maintenance. But where is the money coming from?
Late last year, Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane pointed out that the cost of delivering water infrastructure was becoming prohibitively expensive. She was speaking at the Water Infrastructure Investment Summit, held to seek new partnerships with the business and investment sector to ensure South Africa’s water security.
A bleeding sector?
Panellists at the event highlighted a number of major constraints to the development of the country’s water infrastructure, including:
1 PPPs: While PPPs have been hailed as a success in other infrastructure sectors, this has not been the case for water. If the private sector is to invest and risk is to be shared, the challenges of timelines, requirements and public sector capacity surrounding PPPs need to be addressed.
2 Legislative environment: Long time frames, red tape, inefficiencies and mismanagement were all highlighted as severe stumbling blocks. While there is hope that the review of the Water Act (No. 10 of 1998) and the Water Services Act (No. 108 of 1997) will assist, it is clear that unreasonably long timelines when signing contracts can no longer be the norm.
3
Non-payment: The culture of non-payment in South Africa is become prohibitive. It is not only imperative that metering and billing systems be put in place and standardised pricing models implemented, but the misconception of water being free must be addressed. Only through the collection of payment from those who can afford it will municipalities be able to ensure ongoing maintenance and new projects.
One panellist went so far as to describe South Africa’s water infrastructure as underserviced, undervalued, underfunded and bleeding. Although the ongoing drought is crippling parts of the country, it has served to highlight the value of water and the importance of investing in water infrastructure. It is now up to government and the private sector to work together towards creating an enabling policy framework, partnerships that work, and creative finance structures. With the talk behind us, it is now time to walk the walk.
WISA’s Vision
The promotion of professional excellence in the water sector, through building expertise, sharing knowledge
More than a pump
Globally, up to 10% of energy used in water treatment goes towards pumping water. Grundfos believes that up to 4% of this can be saved by utilising good pumps and systems. The company has designed a range of energy-efficient, smart products spanning the full water treatment value chain to provide holistic, sustainable and effective solutions.
Sourcing treatable water is the first step in any water supply system. Grundfos offers total pumping solutions on any scale, from submersibles to end-suction pumps and large split-case axial flow pumps for groundwater, surface water, desalination, and recycled water.
Grundfos’ high-efficiency motors, combined with integrated or external variable-frequency drives meet, and some
Off the grid
To further reduce energy costs and cater for the unique requirements of rural and agricultural areas, Grundfos offers completely off-grid systems. These solar solutions include the pumps, remote monitoring and system control, solar panels, treatment systems, and components required for a complete water supply system, which can also be designed for wind power. A number of pumps are available
available by adding an intelligent AQtap water ATM and, if required, an AQpure water treatment system to any water supply. Falling under the Grundfos Lifelink umbrella, these solutions cater to lowincome communities in developing nations.
Grundfos AQtap is an intelligent water ATM that addresses some of the main challenges of providing reliable and sustainable water supply in the developing world. Through an integrated platform for revenue collection and online management of water kiosks, Grundfos AQtap supports the financial viability and accountability of water service operations.
This can be linked to AQpure, an ultrafiltration-based water treatment system capable of producing drinking water across four raw water categories. It is ideal for local communities and remote areas where establishing stable, reliable and affordable production of drinking water can be extremely challenging.
In the Mathare informal settlement in Nairobi, Grundfos installed Lifelink automated water ATMs to enable Nairobi City Water & Sewerage Company to cut off illegal water cartels who charged residents up to 20 times more for water not guaranteed as safe to drink. The water ATMs have significantly improved residents’ lives by providing safe and easy-to-access water
Optimal water treatment
Grundfos sells a variety of products to complement customers’ water treatment solutions, ranging from pumps, polymer make-up systems, dosing and disinfection units, to control and monitoring devices. These are suitable for conventional water treatment as well as ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and desalination.
Automation is becoming increasingly crucial in water treatment installations, particularly when it comes to optimisation and safety in medium to large water treatment systems. The inclusion of early warning and logging systems assists with plant optimisation, energy-use reduction and safe operation, and provide the necessary process and safety interlocks for operators and equipment safety, proactive maintenance and recording of plant performance, explains Katrina Zlobich, business development manager: Water Treatment, Grundfos. Grundfos offers controllers for pump protection and performance optimisation such as variable-speed drives, motor protection relays and motor controllers. As regards water quality and safety, Grundfos’ DID water analyser offers up to three different measures on a single controller, which can be fitted with different sensors depending on process and customer requirements. This will assist in achieving accurate chemical dosing and reliable measurements and can be customised according to client needs. Dosing pumps and disinfection units can be connected directly to a DID controller, whose analogue and digital outputs can accommodate pulse and 4 mA–20 mA pumps.
Grundfos’ SMART digital dosing pumps are now available in a large scale (up to 200 ℓ/h) while higher flow rates can be achieved with the DME, DMX or DMH dosing pump ranges. A variety of accessories, such as electric mixers, tanks, pressure loading and pressure relief valves, and suction lances complement the dosing range.
Demand-driven distribution
Some water systems lose up to 40% of their water through leaks – a costly exercise that cannot be afforded in water-stressed countries like South Africa.
Grundfos can supply pumps and controls for the entire water distribution system, including main and local pumping stations, ensuring reliable management of pressure zones throughout the pipe network.
To do this, Grundfos works on the princi ple of demand-driven distribution (DDD). Wireless pressure sensors can be installed at critical points along distribution networks, sending pressure measurements to the pumping station where a Grundfos booster-set equipped with a Grundfos CU controller receives the data and creates a model for the network. With this model, the booster-set can typically keep a lower average pressure in the critical points.
By controlling the pressure in the system and reducing water hammer, Grundfos’ DDD solution offers a lower operation cost, lower leakage rate in the network, fewer pipe bursts, more stable supply to end users and more automated optimisation of network.
On the other side of the coin, Grundfos’ booster units provide constant pressure regardless of flow fluctuations for highrise buildings, irrigation systems and booster substations. These range from basic units to advanced systems, depending on the application and requirements.
Pump curve data is used to determine the most efficient speed and the required number of pumps, continuously optimising energy consumption. Pump speed is continuously monitored to keep the required pressure constant.
Control and monitoring
“You have to measure to know,” says Venter, and Grundfos’ in-house Scada system, Grundfos Remote Management
(GRM), allows customers to do this. GRM gives clients the benefits of an already established, advanced Scada system without the large capital costs and maintenance associated with establishing their own Scada.
The web-based and soon-to-becloud-based GRM can be used on all of Grundfos’ automation-compatible products. The system allows customers to manage their pump systems from anywhere in the world in a cost-effective, easy manner. It provides a complete status overview of the entire system, offers live monitoring, analysis and adjustments, and assists with proactive maintenance based on actual operating data. For those without access to a computer, Grundfos GO is a downloadable mobile phone application that allows you to access your pumps and systems from your smartphone.
“Technology is advancing and moving towards the internet of things, so our devices have to have full communication capabilities and we are always looking at ways in which we can connect all of our products to GRM and Grundfos GO,” says Zlobich.
For those with an existing Scada system in place, Grundfos’ GENIbus open data communication protocol can be used to connect Grundfos pumps.
With its wide variety of products available, Grundfos is all about bringing the best solution to the table. “It’s about more than selling a pump, it’s about selling a solution,” concludes Venter.
Katrina Zlobich, business development manager and Stephan Venter, product specialist, Grundfos
Working for
South Africa, particularly the water sector, is facing a challenging time. As we all know, the Western Cape is facing a huge water crisis, and many other areas are suffering too.
Crumbling infrastructure is affecting water security across the country at a local level. Climate change is fiercely making itself felt through various environmental disasters. Billions of rands are owed to the Department of Water and Sanitation by numerous municipalities, and the national deficit is growing. However, despite numerous corruption allegations and economic downgrades, consumers spent more than ever on Black Friday.
Bringing positive change
Despite this, there is much to be positive about. We are thankful to all our WISA
members and sponsors who have stood by us and supported us in our events and activities. WISA is on a path of change, which will see even more activities being rolled out in our branch areas. We want to see more interaction with members at a local level, and have planned numerous small workshops, presentations and socials in the smaller and more remote areas. You can be a part of this by sending your ideas to Melissa at admin@wisa.org.za.
We are very proud of our divisions, who hosted at least four conferences last year. These were well attended, and certainly provided much more than knowledge dissemination. That being said, interactions at these conferences told us that leadership and governance are huge challenges we face.
The year ahead
We would like to use 2018 to provide as much support and assistance in mitigating these risks as possible. We will start with knowledge dissemination, and I am happy to announce that we will be launching some governance and leadership CPD courses to all members during 2018. The biennial conference in June 2018 will also present numerous workshops and discussions aligned to these risks. More than anything, we
Dr Lester Goldman, CEO, WISA
want to be able to move and assist government in rooting out this cancer that is slowly killing our economy. We pledge our support to the authorities in this regard and know that our members will also assist wherever possible.
As we face 2018, we also remember those we lost during 2017 with fondness and peace. However, we lose colleagues through more than death. Suspensions, resignations and early retirement are impacting our effectiveness and efficiency. Succession planning and effective transformation depend heavily on knowledge transfer, and we want to play a bigger role in understanding and improving this within WISA and the sector.
It helps to be reminded that change is not easy, and that some of the challenges we are experiencing allow us to grow and develop as a nation. The drought is certainly showing us that we can adapt our water culture and save more water than we ever thought possible. New technology and processes, and valuable experience gained, can only benefit us in the future. The proverbial silver lining always exists, if we look hard enough.
I hope that everyone celebrating had a most blessed Christmas and may 2018 be a prosperous new year. I look forward to 2018 and working with you all to create a better South Africa. One we all dream about, but one we must start working on together to create.
A national
First, let me say best wishes for 2018 to the entire water family. As an eternal optimist, I hope that 2018 is the start of better days ahead for the water sector; better days that can only be made possible through bold, professional and committed actions by communities and sector practitioners.
We start the year with a call for comment by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) on the establishment of the single catchment management agency (CMA) in terms of section 78(3) of the National Water Act (No. 36 of 1998). This decision was taken in 2017 to collapse the existing two CMAs and seven proto-CMAs into one single entity called the National Water Resource Management Agency. This was due to years of challenges around the set-up, management, costs and resourcing of CMAs.
According to the situational analysis done, the root cause of “nearly all the challenges were institutional/structural” and, therefore, such a change in institutional arrangements to a single national water management agency would, in theory, constitute an improvement. Hence, while we attempted to decentralise water management through the establishment of the nine CMAs, we have lost significant ground on the protection of water resources, as evidenced through declining water quality, and created frustration with water users and stakeholders. On the political level, there is significant unhappiness over the lack of progress on equity and access, and it is foolish to continue to kick the can down the road.
In moving to a single entity, the DWS is attempting to deal with several critical challenges: (1) transformation of the water
Water resource protection and stewardship: will the formation of the single CMA solve these challenges? By Valerie Naidoo
sector, (2) deteriorating water quality, (3) compromised water security, (4) authorisation backlogs, (5) inadequate regulation, (6) inadequate funding for WRM, (7) ineffective implementation of IWRM, (8) limited capacity in the water resources sector, (9) ineffective leadership in international water resources management (regional), and (10) ageing water resources infrastructure. These are significant challenges and it is assumed that the creation of the single national water management agency will rationalise the various efforts across the CMAs and proto-CMAs and, most importantly, separate the
Dr Valerie Naidoo, president, WISA
functions between the DWS and the National Water Management Agency (NWMA), thereby improving governance and regulatory efficiency. A level of pragmatism needs to be applied to what is being proposed and its chances of success.
The governance arrangements, financing model of the entity, and the leadership it puts in place are the three most critical enablers of success. The DWS
proposal recommends the need for a strong and capable board, which is important not only in terms of oversight and governance but also to ensure that the entity has the necessary resources (people, systems and budgets) to carry out its functions.
The board itself must have the right balance of members with the right skills, as well as ensure where necessary coopted members are elected to advise constructively on the development of the strategy and plans. The appointment of the CEO and staff will be critical steps to the implementation considerations put forth for the formation and functioning of the NWMA. Hiring the wrong people with inadequate skills and competencies will result in similar issues to those we have seen in the current institutional arrangement. It is important that a skill-needs map is developed based on the functions that the entity will have to deliver on. Similarly, if staff are to be migrated from the DWS to the new entity, then
adequate training and training budgets need to be in place to have a highly efficient entity that will deal with some of the challenges listed above.
Addressing authorisation backlogs within a defined timeframe will be an important success story for this entity to accomplish, and should be prioritised as a target. It will build confidence in the leadership and new institutional arrangements. In addition, an implementable plan for water allocation reform with the right balance of incentives, regulation, and enforcement for change and transformation will be a major accomplishment. Staff must have the right balance of soft and hard skills to ensure inclusive and equitable stewardship and the right tools, systems and processes to do their job effectively. So let’s hope the new single NWMA is able to be established and staffed as soon as possible and that it delivers on its expected mandate. A failure to do so only accelerates the deterioration of water resources and compromises our future water security.
At a time when water is high on political agendas, the 8th International Young Water Professionals Conference put the spotlight on building leaders and making an impact on the water sector.
By Lloyd Fisher-Jeffes
WMaking an impact
ater is at the heart of the internationally agreed to Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the World Economic Forum’s global business risk. Driven by climate change and growing water demand, water scarcity is becoming the new normal. Finding solutions to water supply demands, water quality, water financing and wastewater recycling present some of the greatest challenges facing humanity.
The 8th International Young Water Professionals Conference (IYWPC), held in Cape Town from 10 to 14 December 2017, took place at a time when water had never been higher on both the local and the global political agenda. Over 300 Young Water Professionals from around 50 countries attended the event and were forced to consider the value of water on arrival in Cape Town, the host city, which currently faces the consequences of the worst drought in decades.
Building leaders, making an impact
The 8th IYWPC ran under the theme ‘Building Leaders & Making Impact’, and South Africa’s Young Water Professionals (YWP-ZA), together with the International Water Association (IWA) and WISA, set out
to ensure that this theme was realised at the conference.
Prior to the conference, YWP-ZA programme chairperson Ashton Maherry and IWA Learning and Capacity Development officer Kirsten De Vette ran a series of webinars to assist the YWPs in preparing high-quality submissions of abstracts, papers, posters, presentations and two-minute theses. They were assisted by, among others, Professor Gustaf Olsson, a keynote speaker.
Innovative networking
Instead of the usual preconference cocktail evening, the networking at this conference began with a trip to the Water Hub outside Franschhoek – a water research centre currently under development. At the Water Hub, the YWPs had the opportunity to participate in the Water Olympics, consisting of a series of competitive team games. They also helped to build food gardens, leaving a legacy and learning how South Africa’s Mini Stream Assessment Scoring System works. Information was shared about the research currently happening on the site, and delegates began networking with other YWPs from around the world. This alternative start to the conference was enthusiastically enjoyed by all who attended, and resulted
in the funding and partial construction of the Water Hub’s first food gardens. Recognising the potential value of bringing international keynote speakers to Cape Town, the YWP-ZA, in collaboration with the University of Cape Town’s Future Water Institute, arranged a public lecture by Professor Richard Ashley for those unable to attend the conference. The topic – water sensitivity – is of significant relevance to Cape Town in light of its ongoing drought situation.
The conference
The conference was officially opened with addresses by the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pamela Tshwete; the MEC of the Western Cape, Anton Bredell; the president of the IWA, Diane D’Arras; and WISA’s CEO, Dr Lester Goldman. Their addresses were followed by an exciting and inspiring plenary panel discussion lead by YWP-ZA chairperson Nora Hanke-Louw. The panel comprised ‘realists’ represented by Dr James Cullis and Arlinda Ibrahimllari, and ‘optimists’ represented by Dr Geci Karuri-Sebina and Adrianna Marais. While a range of topics were covered, both the ‘optimists’ and the ‘realists’ agreed that there needed to be a change in the way in which we are currently doing things.
More than 300 YWPs from around 50 countries attending the 8th IYWPC
Following the opening plenary session, the conference broke into parallel sessions that included a range of academic presentations and interactive workshops.
Day two began with insightful keynote lectures by Professor Gustaf Olsson about going MAD – ‘Measure’ (M), ‘Analytics’ (A) and ‘Decision-making’ (D) – and Advocate Faith Matshidiso Hashatse, CEO, Rand Water, who spoke about the good governance and good performance of water utilities, and highlighted the need to have YWPs at the decision-making table.
The second day also hosted the Energy Water Sector Education Training Authority’s (EWSETA's) Career Fair, which was themed along the lines of a speed dating experience where delegates were given the opportunity to be interviewed, for three minutes, by around 20 companies. The EWSETA Career Fair was undoubtedly a success, with many delegates attending and subsequently highlighting the insights that they had gained from their attendance.
Following a keynote address on the third day, by Professor Richard Ashley, who highlighted the uncertainty in how economics is used to value water systems, the conference broke into its final sessions, which included the much-anticipated two-minute thesis competition. Within the space of a couple of hours, around 70 papers were presented, each lasting two minutes. YWPs eagerly accepted the challenge of presenting their papers – the
culmination of many months of work – in less than two minutes. It was fascinating to see the variety and quality of the research presented in the space of a couple hours.
Prior to conference closing, the delegates began the work needed to ensure that the next conference would continue from where this one had ended. Delegates broke into groups of 10 to discuss the way forward, the strengths and weaknesses of the different aspects of the conference, and the skills/training they felt they needed as future water sector leaders. This, we hope, will ensure that the next IYWPC, to be held in Toronto in 2019, will build on the momentum needed to continue to further ‘Build Leaders & Make Impact’.
Thanks to the sponsors
The success of the conference was dependent on sponsors, as not all YWPs have the resources to cover typical conference fees. Sponsors included EWSETA (Gold Sponsor), Rand Water (Silver Sponsor), Wesgro (Silver Sponsor), Aurecon, Department of Science and Technology, Monash SA, the National Convention Bureau, the National Research Foundation, Nestle, WISA, WISA Mine Water Division, the Strategic Water Partnership, and Woolworths. These institutions made it possible to ensure the conference was successful in building leaders and making an impact.
At the Career Fair, delegates were given the opportunity to be interviewed for three minutes each by around 20 companies
Future water leaders
This conference has undoubtedly made a significant impact, not only on the water sector, but on the participants personally. At a time of political uncertainty, both locally and globally, it was inspiring to see YWPs from diverse backgrounds come together to run this conference.
These fellow YWPs, many of whom had not met each other until conference registration, organised the conference via WhatsApp, Skype and email. The common concern was building each other’s skills to ensure that we can all become the future water leaders that South Africa and the world need. Most inspiring was that this generation of YWPs was not concerned with wealth, race, status, or gender, but rather with giving back and helping each other fulfil their dreams. I was incredibly humbled to have been given the opportunity to work with each one of them, and wish that each individual could be given the credit they deserve in making the conference a success.
South Africa should be proud of these YWPs. If this conference is anything to go by, the future water leaders are going to make a positive impact on the water sector. Their details can be found in the conference booklet at www.iwaywpconference.org.
Delegates who helped ‘make an impact’ by building food gardens sponsored by Wesgro
Delegates networked at the Water Hub outside Franschhoek
Many of South Africa’s wastewater treatment works (WWTWs) are overdesigned and face serious operational and maintenance flaws. Jacques Nieuwoudt, process engineer, AquaPlan Watertreatment Engineering, discusses how the capacity, efficiency and quality of WWTWs can be improved in a timely, cost-effective manner.
Why is capacitating the country’s WWTWs important now more than ever?
JN For the past few years, South Africa (like many other countries abroad) has found itself facing a difficult decision regarding its current and future WWTW infrastructure, skills and budgetary allowances. With water being scarce in areas across the country due to persistent drought conditions over the past few years, freshwater supplies
are steadily deteriorating while the country’s population is increasing –creating more demand for sustainable solutions. Adding to this, most of the current WWTW effluent discharges are not within spec, further polluting the already drought-stricken water bodies. Therefore, it is important to investigate and invest in WWTW infrastructure and the newer technologies available, to increase both the capacity of the existing works and treatment efficiencies.
What products and services do you recommend for rapidly improving WWTW capacity?
Most WWTWs are overdesigned when it comes to capacity; so, in the interim, loading can be increased without significant impact on overall effluent quality. Control/automation is, however, critical, with instrumentation for flow, level and final effluent required to ensure optimal plant management and reduce operator intervention. Operator
Jacques Nieuwoudt, process engineer, AquaPlan Watertreatment Engineering
training and skill highly impacts plant performance, as well as proper O&M manuals and technical details. Should these be insufficient or non-existent, it is highly recommended to review and provide services accordingly.
How can capacity improvement be executed at scale within a reasonable timeline?
In recent years, package plants have gained a lot of attention. This is due to the fact that the entire plant can be manufactured (mainly of steel construction) and tested off-site, with lower footprints (for similar capacities) and minimal civil works required for installation. AquaPlan offers a vast array of package plant solutions, of which skid-mounted WWTWs are one option. The added benefits of package plants are that fabrication times are shorter (dependant on the capacity required) and plants can be relocated to another area of benefit, once the permanent civil installation is complete.
What interim solutions do you recommend where large civil works need to be undertaken?
Depending on the scope of the work to be undertaken (such as refurbishment of existing installations), certain process steps can be isolated by the installation of a package solution. Thus, the entire plant need not be shut down for works to be executed.
For new installations, a good interim solution is to install a complete package treatment plant that would be able to receive and treat a portion of the full future planned capacity, while the large civils work continues. If additional capacity is required, additional ‘packages’, process skids or units can be added and interconnected, with minor upgrades to the control system required. Then when the full civil structure is commissioned and operational, the package plant can be moved to a new site or even a small-demand area, such as a small town or rural development.
How can WWTWs be retrofitted to reverse the current state of pollution in our rivers, dams and coastlines?
Current WWTWs can be optimised with automated monitoring instrumentation, which, in turn, can be used to control pumps, dosing, control sequences and
Future installations should not be confined to the norm, but rather look into alternative solutions that may drastically reduce initial investments, footprints and operational/maintenance costs.
other process units to ensure optimal throughput and effluent quality. Where practically possible, existing surface aeration technology can be exchanged to retrofit fine-bubble aeration, and advances in membrane treatment (such as membrane bioreactors) should also be investigated.
Do you think it is possible for South Africa to turn its WWTW capacity issues around?
Yes; the WWTWs have previously been subject to operational and maintenance flaws due to limited skill and budget availability, resulting in the deterioration of the installations and, ultimately, the water bodies downstream. In recent years, however, there have been significant improvements by municipalities around the country by putting emphasis on these three factors. Future installations should also not be confined to the norm, but rather look into alternative solutions that may drastically reduce initial investments, footprints and operational/maintenance costs.
Can you describe a recent project where AquaPlan improved plant efficiency?
AquaPlan recently installed two package sewage treatment plants in the Underberg/Himeville area, where the treatment of raw sewage is accomplished via an aerobic, suspended-growth process in a sequential batch reactor system. The treatment process is fully automated, with minor operator intervention required (desludging, cleaning of the inlet screens and sampling).
The system was designed to be robust for the rural environment in which it was installed, but high-quality instrumentation was still included to monitor process conditions and adapt the control system as required. The process is also very simple to understand and operate, facilitating easy operator training.
ETHIOPIA
Water and sanitation in Africa
GERD to go ahead Ethiopia is forging ahead with the construction of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) despite renewed expressions of concern from Egypt.
Once completed, GERD will be Africa's largest hydroelectric power plant and will help solve a national energy crisis in Ethiopia. A recent meeting between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan ended in a gridlock when the trio failed to approve an initial study on the effects of Ethiopia's new dam on the downstream states. Egypt is concerned about the dam’s effect on the country’s annual share of 55.5 billion m3 of the Nile River water.
GERD is more than 60% complete and Ethiopia has no plans of stopping, despite Egypt’s concerns. According to Ethiopia's Minister of Irrigation, Water and Electricity, Seleshi Bekele, Ethiopia will not stop construction and is not concerned about Egypt’s objections. “Ethiopia is committed to benefitting from its water resources
without causing harm to anyone.”
KENYA
Coming soon: East Africa’s biggest dam
The Kenyan government has signed the contract for the construction of the Thwake Dam – the largest single project in the country and the region.
The dam is expected to provide 130 million litres of water per day, benefitting 1.3 million people from the Lower Eastern Region. According to Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa, the 77 m high, 22 km long dam will be the largest in East Africa.
The Sh36.9 billion (R4.41 billion) project will be undertaken by the China Gezhouba Construction
FAST FACTS
Ethiopia will not stop construction of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam despite renewed concern from Egypt
Group Corporation. Kitui County governor Charity Ngilu said the dam will be a game changer in the region and pledged to provide all the necessary support to ensure the problem-free completion of the project.
RWANDA
Bringing water and sanitation to the people Rwanda has received US$171 million (R2.1 billion) to supply water and sanitation to its people.
The funding will finance Rwanda’s Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation
Program, which is designed to improve the quality of life and socio-economic development of the country by ensuring equitable provision of adequate, reliable and sustainable water and sanitation services for targeted cities with a view to promote economic growth and transformation.
This corresponds with Rwanda’s Vision 2020, which envisions scaling up investments in reliable, affordable and environmentally sustainable infrastructure and water and sanitation services as key drivers and enablers of economic transformation and rural development.
The programme will see water and sanitation infrastructure and services provided to Kigali and the
Word from around Africa – including the latest industry, project and development news.
satellite towns of Rubavu, Rusizi, Nyagatare, Muhanga, Huye, Musanze and Karongi. This will bring improved water supply services to an estimated 1.1 million people, while 475 000 others will have access to better sanitation.
The programme will be implemented over 48 months, starting from January 2018, at a total cost of $262 million (R3.22 billion).
TANZANIA
The water conundrum Water demand outgrowing supply in Tanzania could halt the country’s development progress.
According to a new World Bank report, renewable per capita freshwater resources have dropped from more than 3 000 m3 per person to around 1 600 m3 over the past 25 years. This is against a backdrop of a rapidly expanding economy and population.
Tanzania has made steady progress, with 63% of the population now having access to basic and improved water supply services.
However, the increasing demand means the decline in water availability will likely continue and reach around 1 400 m3 per person by 2025, well below the 1 700 m3 per person threshold that defines water-stressed countries.
Moreover, industry could be affected as the agricultural sector accounts for roughly 89% of total water use in Tanzania. The country’s manufacturing is also dominated by agroprocessing, which is also highly dependent on water, as is mining, tourism and energy generation.
To address the issue, the report recommends four key measures towards ensuring the good management
of water in the country: stronger coordination across sectors and prioritisation of water-related investments; valuing and pricing water appropriately; investing in data collection and analysis to better equip water management bodies to make decisions; and clarifying and strengthening the roles of institutions responsible for waterresource management and ensuring they are properly resourced.
“There is now a compelling need for the government and all stakeholders to manage this finite resource better,” says Bella Bird, the World Bank country director for Tanzania, Malawi, Somalia and Burundi.
ZAMBIA
Supporting Lusaka’s sanitation
Zambia’s Lusaka Sanitation Programme has received €102.5 million (R1.5 billion) of funding to support local sanitation infrastructure in the country’s capital.
The Lusaka Sanitation Programme is part of the urgently needed reinforcement and expansion of the wastewater infrastructure in Lusaka. It is expected to greatly contribute to economic and social development, due to the spillovers of sanitation infrastructure on health, environment, human development and virtually
all other sectors of the Zambian economy.
The project will support the development of two new wastewater treatment plants and the associated main collector sewers and sewage pumping stations in Lusaka. Apart from this, it will also help with the expansion of the sewerage system (up to 520 km), rehabilitation and upgrade of the associated wastewater treatment ponds and construction of on-site sanitation facilities across the city.
The project will more than double the existing sewerage network in the Zambian capital, potentially benefitting up to 525 000 people, many of whom would receive
first-time access to reliable sanitation services.
“The population and demand for sanitation services in Lusaka have been growing exponentially without corresponding investment to adequately service the people. Funding was a huge stumbling block in addressing this challenge, as servicing all of the growing population of Lusaka requires huge capital investment.
We thank the European Investment Bank not only for funding the project, but also for the technical support that we have continued to receive,” said Jilly Chiyombwe, acting managing director, Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company.
Tanzanian development progress is under threat as water demand outgrows supply
Flexible water
solutions
As a member of the Structa Group, Structa Technology proudly services the public sector by assisting in the provision of much-needed water storage to rural communities throughout South Africa.
“Over the years, our 40-year-old proprietary product, Prestank, has proved to be a hygienically safe, cost-effective, and reliable water-storage solution for communities, the commercial and private sectors, and even for personalised storage,” says Rodney Cory, director: Prestank, Structa Technology.
“We are one of the preferred suppliers of water storage tanks for municipal authorities and mines, and are known as a supplier that always strives to deliver on time and within budget, adhering to the best quality standards,” says Cory, adding that Prestank water storage solutions are ideal for large volumes of water – from 10 000 ℓ up.
Prestanks can be used for various water storage applications, including temporary or permanent installations at mines, power stations, building sites, hospitals, water utilities, municipalities, rural communities and farms.
The development of a new, smallercapacity water tank series meets community requirements for lower volume storage of up to 10 000 ℓ.
Improved service offering
The company has now improved its basket of services to municipalities by introducing its newly patented water storage tank series. “We’ve responded to community storage requirements for lower volumes of water of up to 10 000 ℓ,” says Cory. Known as the Roddy tank, this product is ideally suited for smaller villages, schools, and clinics situated in rural areas.
The Roddy tank is a sectional, round, galvanised water storage system that offers either 3 900 ℓ, 7 200 ℓ or 10 000 ℓ capacities. However, if the client requires more than 10 000 ℓ – for example, if a village population grows and requires a bigger water storage tank – this patented system makes provision for further incremental capacity expansion.
“There is, therefore, no need to replace the original water storage tank with a bigger one,” says Cory. The Roddy tank can remain on ground level or on a stand of 5 m or 10 m.
Partnerships that improve service delivery
Structa Technology provides municipalities with cost-effective and durable products. The company’s philosophy is to partner with local contractors in the area to provide the foundations for tank construction installations, as well as erection, thereby supporting the respective municipality’s localisation policy and assisting with much-needed job creation.
Durability
Structa’s customisable, high-quality, pressed-steel sectional tanks are hot-dip galvanised for corrosion control in accordance with SANS 121 (or ISO 1461) galvanising standards. The thickness of the hot-dip galvanised coat is applied within a range of 80 μm to 100 μm – more than five times that of zinc on pre-galvanised corrugated steel cylindrical tanks. This ensures an extended maintenance-free life.
Proven screen cleaning solutions
Screening systems are an important factor in hydropower installations. Where screen cleaning is concerned, Bavarian industry specialist Erhard Muhr GmbH has a string of innovative, high-quality reference projects under its belt.
Erhard Muhr GmbH has been designing, manufacturing and installing hydraulic screen cleaners for hydropower stations since 1983. In the Southern African region, Vovani Water Products is the sole representative of Muhr.
“We are able to supply its extensive range of products for wastewater screening, hydromechanical equipment, screens and trash rack cleaning systems for dams, and prescreening systems for desalination to the local market,” says Henk Smit, managing director, Vovani Water Products.
Horizontal screen cleaning systems
“A lot of our previous experience in hydraulic vertical cleaning went into the development of our horizontal cleaners,” says Florian Kufner, a trade journalist with specialist expertise in Muhr technology.
Static systems are the most basic type of horizontal screen cleaners. The name is not quite accurate, as the rake does move across the entire length of the screen; but since the entire unit is firmly attached to the building, it is, by definition, a statically installed screen cleaning device.
“An alternative to static systems is movable ones. Equipped with a travel carriage, these machines move along the screen on rail tracks. This type of system is suitable primarily for long screens and/or greater cleaning depths. In some cases, gear racks are used, depending on the forces that the system has to withstand,” says Kufner.
Multipurpose screen cleaners
Multipurpose screen cleaners for horizontal screen cleaning are built by equipping a movable rig with slewing gears, a grab rake and controls. In addition to cleaning screens, systems of this type can also be used for grabbing the collected debris and depositing it at a designated location for disposal.
Screen drum systems
With its RO-TEC screen drum units, Muhr offers a state-of-the-art alternative to the combination of horizontal racks and screen cleaners. A constant revolving motion generated by an integrated electric motor enables the drums to virtually ‘self-clean’, thus ensuring consistently high flow rates. Screen drums are suitable for intakes of any width, with single- and multiple-drum arrangements possible. However, the intake
TOP LEFT A Hydronic H-3500 static horizontal screen cleaner is used at the Holenstein power plant in Switzerland for cleaning a fine-grated rack measuring around 21 m in length
TOP RIGHT A Muhr Hydronic H-6500 V system at the Raguhn hydropower plant in eastern Germany is equipped with a hydraulic gantry for removing large floating debris
ABOVE A multipurpose Hydronic H-9500 BDV at hydropower plant Keselstrasse in Germany is designed for the automated cleaning of a 23 m horizontal screen
must run parallel – or, at the most, at a slight angle – to the direction of the water flow to ensure that the collected debris can be properly flushed down the watercourse. Each screen drum is completely preassembled at the factory, making this innovative guard grating system easy to install and maintain. Individual drum modules can also be removed for inspection if necessary and replaced by stop logs that can be placed on the guide rails. Lastly, when it comes to environmental impact, the specific flow conditions around the drums have a naturally ‘repellent’ effect on aquatic animals and the installed drums are almost invisible.
A third successive year of the Cape’s worst drought in a century is heading this way and has the region’s reservoirs and dams at record lows.
With the threat of day zero looming, communities in the region are at severe risk of running out of water altogether, while the agricultural sector has been plunged into crisis, dampening the local economy. Recycled wastewater could be the answer.
While treating water for reuse is by no means a new concept, the costs of the infrastructure required to achieve this have historically been prohibitive. However, modular plant designs using biological, environmentally friendly treatment methods are changing the game.
While there has been a stigma around drinking or reusing treated and recycled sewage water, as the water crisis deepens, this mindset is changing. As we head into 2018, more businesses, schools and hospitals are likely to realise that recycling water by means of natural, eco-friendly, biological treatment methods is the best and most costeffective way to ensure water availability and security. Wastewater management company SewTreat has already received a number of tenders for reuse projects in the Eastern Cape, including hospitals, a health club and a large shopping mall.
Proven success
Wastewater reuse has been successfully implemented in numerous countries around the world for years. In 2014, three years into California’s worst drought in over a century, the state’s Orange County Water District established a pioneering wastewater treatment facility that recycles used water and returns it to the drinking supply. The plant’s production expanded from 259 MLD to 370 MLD –enough for 850 000 people.
Closer to home, Windhoek has been successfully treating wastewater to
drinking standards for the past 50 years. Most of the wastewater produced by Windhoek’s 300 000 residents is sent to the Goreangab waste treatment plant – the first stop in the city’s pioneering water recycling system.
Modular solutions for SA SewTreat offers a biological, modular wastewater treatment model with mechanical modular filtration for effective wastewater treatment for potable reuse. These systems can be implemented very quickly and at an affordable price, making them ideal for a variety of locations, including businesses, residential estates, schools, retail spaces and agricultural areas. In fact, the price comparison between recycling wastewater and desalination is notable, due to desalination’s high costs associated with energy requirements and highly concentrated waste.
Dr Anthony Turton, environmental advisor and professor at the Centre for Environmental Management at the University of the Free State, put it best when, while talking about water as a business risk, he said: “We’re facing a water crisis of epic proportions. It’s quite possible to recycle your sewage water. But it takes engineering and social complexity.”
The engineering complexity has been taken care of thanks to firms around South Africa that have realised that the combination of biological wastewater treatment plants and traditional water treatment plants offers a sustainable engineering solution. The social complexity is now up to the people.
An ocean of opportunity
South Africa’s recent drought has highlighted the need for alternative water sources and interest in desalination-based solutions for South Africa’s drought-stricken coastal regions has soared.
As Cape Town approaches day zero, local interest in desalination appears to have peaked. More than 1 600 downloads of the City of Cape Town’s first request for proposal pertaining to landbased SWRO desalination plants were logged and Kouga Municipality recently sent a team to Israel to learn more about the country’s successful desalination programme. Countries like Israel, which began desalination decades ago, provide an example of how the sea can provide an almost unlimited resource.
Locally, the Mossel Bay desalination plant, currently the largest in the country, serves as a successful case study in South Africa. Built in 2010, during a severe drought, the plant now supplies 10 Mℓ of potable water to the Mossel Bay Municipality, and 5 Mℓ of process water to PetroSA.
Inland opportunities exist for the treatment of high-salinity brackish water and wastewater using the same technology. This Water&Sanitation Africa panel discussion explores the various desalination solutions available and how companies are working to make desalination more affordable, energyefficient and scalable. This edition’s panel discussion features:
Vovani Water Products
Systems
VOVANI SUPPLIES PRODUCTS
AND PROVIDES SOLUTIONS
DESALINATION
BRACKISH WATER TREATMENT
SURFACE WATER PURIFICATION
WASTE WATER TREATMENT
HYDRO POWER & COOLING WATER TREATMENT
WASTE WATER SCREENING
“WATER PRODUCTS FOR THE FUTURE”
HENK SMIT Managing Director
Why should government and industry be looking into desalination as a way to promote water security?
HS South Africa is caught in a severe drought and natural water resources are becoming scarce. With the population increase, which leads to higher water usage across all sectors, we have to look at all the possible options to ensure water security.
One of these is desalination, which is a very viable option for cities and areas along or near the coastline. Seawater, as a water source, is easily accessible and we have the latest technology available to treat it to potable drinking water quality.
What desalination solutions does Vovani supply?
Vovani has a wide range of products, many of which are used in desalination water treatment solutions. These include:
- screening systems for water intake filtration
- fibre-glass housings for prefiltration
- ultrafiltration (UF) membranes for removal of suspended solids
- reverse osmosis (RO) membranes for removal of dissolved solids (salt removal).
What advantages do your RO membranes offer?
The RO membranes we represent, sourced from LG Chem, are incorporated with innovative thin-film
VOVANI WATER PRODUCTS
nanocomposite technology and reduce the cost of desalination while delivering superior water quality.
Our seawater RO membranes provide industry-leading salt rejection of 99.85%, the highest boron rejection of up to 93% in the market, and produce 20% more flow than membranes manufactured with conventional technologies.
How does Vovani address the issues of high capital costs and high energy demands associated with desalination?
Vovani represents Fedco, which supplies high-pressure pumps for desalination projects and manufactures various energy-recovery devices used on RO water treatment plants. These devices can be used in other areas where water flow and pressure can be utilised for saving on power consumption, or turned into electricity.
By using these high-pressure boosters, low-pressure hydraulic energy management integration and hydraulic energy into electricity systems,
The capital costs of these desalination plants has reduced over time and Vovani, together with its suppliers, strives to supply the highest-quality products at lower capital costs in order to make these desalination plants more cost-effective, and the preferred solution.
What other water treatment products does Vovani offer?
Vovani supplies UF membranes that remove all suspended solids from feedwater and serve as prefiltration to the RO membranes, to protect and increase membrane lifespan. These UF membranes, supplied by Suez, are also used for surface water, wastewater and water reuse filtration.
Vovani also represents Muhr, which manufactures screening systems used for desalination and wastewater treatment plants. These systems are imperative to remove seagrass, seaweed, shells and other large solids from the feed stream to the desalination plant, which can damage the UF and RO membranes.
Which areas and markets do you serve?
Vovani serves the following markets:
- desalination
- brackish water
- water reuse
- wastewater
- surface water
- hydropower
- cooling water.
We are active not only in South Africa, but also Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia.
COBUS RAUBENHEIMER Project Director
Desalination has become a hot topic in light of the drought. What is this technology’s potential when it comes to boosting potable water supplies?
CR Using desalination to boost potable water supplies has been done successfully in other parts of the world before, particularly the Middle East. We as South Africans can learn a lot from countries like Israel, which started a desalination programme in the early 2000s. Today, more than 40% of Israel’s potable water consumption comes from some of the largest and most energyefficient desalination plants in the world.
What desalination solutions does EPF Systems supply?
Our desalination technology, which is reverse osmosis (RO) based, comes from Israel. South Africa does not need to re-invent the wheel when it comes to desalination, but rather take the technology that is already available from the leading desalination experts in the world and build on that with low-cost pumping, piping and valve solutions that has been available for several years locally. We have built a relationship with a leading Israeli water desalination technology provider with over 30 years’ experience in water purification. Although we can manufacture several components locally, the main technology items, such as the membranes and energy-recovery unit, are sourced from Israel.
What are the benefits of containerised systems?
The nature of the contracts requested from the City of Cape Town make containerised systems the obvious choice. The City of Cape Town’s first requirement is fast implementation. For that, one needs to fabricate as much of the unit in-house and eliminate site work as far as possible. The other requirement is the relatively short contract period to cater for an emergency period until a larger permanent desalination plant can come into operation. The larger permanent plant will probably take two to four
years to construct and the containerised emergency plants are the only real intermediary alternative that can be removed after the contract period has been concluded or expired.
What service and maintenance plans do you offer?
With the exception of one or two multinational water purification companies that have installed desalination plants in South Africa, the technology is relatively new to the country, with only a couple of installations along our coastline. Although the technology might be relatively new, the complexity of the plant is actually much simpler than several existing chemical and petrochemical plants we have in South Africa. We have employed some of the most experienced project and plant operations personnel, who are more than capable of handling desalination installation projects, as well as the operation and maintenance of the plants.
Desalination is often associated with high costs and high energy demand. How do you combat this?
Before the start of the Eskom wind, solar and concentrated solar power purchase agreements, everybody believed solar was hellishly expensive. Although prices started at around R2.50/kW back in 2010, when the first tenders were received, today’s 75 MW to 100 MW plants are built for less than R1.00/kW. We believe desalination plants in South Africa will follow the same trend. Initially, with the risk being high, potable water will cost around R30/m3 to R40/m3, but this will only be for the first 50 Mℓ of potable water produced. The subsequent rounds of tendering will lower the pricing to below R30/m3 of potable water, and perhaps even lower than R20/m3. The final price obviously depends on the terms and conditions set out in the municipal contracts, but we believe there will be a sharp decrease in pricing as the market gets used to the technology and the associated risks.
EPF SYSTEMS
Which other areas and markets do you serve?
EPF prides itself on offering a complete water filtration product range. We offer simple water filtration cartridges or filtering elements, media filtration with proprietary housings and plate designs, as well as semi-automatic screening and RO systems. All our products are very competitively priced with excellent technical support from the US or Israel, depending on the exact offering. The normal technical support process starts with a water sample being analysed in a local laboratory, with the results sent to us for the recommendation of a tailored filtration solution. The proposal includes budgetary pricing as well conceptual layout drawings of the equipment offered to the client.
www.grundfos.com info_za@grundfos.com
KATRINA ZLOBICH Business Development Manager: Water Treatment
What products does Grundfos offer for desalination?
KZ Seawater desalination is rapidly becoming an additional and necessary source of potable water in many countries, including South Africa. Increasingly, reverse osmosis (RO) is the preferred technology for desalination and Grundfos offers a variety of products to support the RO process. These include:
• Intake pumps: Grundfos provides a variety of options for collecting water for numerous applications.
• High-pressure pumps with pressure exchanger: Grundfos offers a range of booster modules that improve efficiency and offer energy savings of up to 45%.
• Dosing pumps: The accurate dosing of chemicals is essential for desalination plants. Our digital SMART dosing pump range, designed to resolve the challenges posed by chemical dosing, ensures high accuracy, low operational costs and, most importantly, reliable and safe dosing pumping.
We also offer a variety of chemical options for disinfection, namely chlorine gas, sodium hypochlorite and chlorine dioxide. Additionally, control and monitoring helps with process optimisation and savings on chemicals.
Grundfos also offers a DID water analyser to ensure legislative compliance with disinfection monitoring. Our DID can measure up to three different water parameters on a single controller, and can be fitted with different sensors, according to process and customer requirements. An internal PID controller for optimisation of each parameter helps achieve accurate dosing. Parameters are not limited to disinfection, but also include options for conductivity, pH, ClO2, oxidation reduction potential, hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid measurements.
What sets your high-pressure pumps apart?
A combination of parameters account for the overall excellence of the product. When it comes to durability and reliability, all critical components in contact with seawater are made of super duplex stainless steel. Seawater is highly corrosive and selecting the
wrong materials will shorten the life of equipment and cause problems during operation. Carefully selected materials ensure durability and reliability, which directly translate to lower maintenance costs and a longer lifespan of the pumps.
Grundfos’ BMS range comes with high-grade materials as a standard offering and provides energy savings due to the high efficiency of the pump and motor. It is also designed to allow easy maintenance and alignment, helping our customers to perform maintenance without involving outside specialists, and reducing shutdown requirements.
One of the biggest hurdles in installing a desalination plant is high costs. How do your pumps work to drive down costs? Desalination’s total costs (capital and operational) will be evaluated for any equipment or water treatment process to be used. Grundfos has taken a systematic approach to find the golden medium to reduce total cost. However, we have high quality standards and we will not compromise on items such as materials. We believe that our customers will also benefit from the ‘friendliness’ of our pumps during operation and maintenance.
However, there is always space for innovation; we are constantly making improvements and investing into product development and technology research.
What services and support do you offer? Grundfos does not only focus on suppling products and solutions, but also great after-sales support.
We provide support to our customers through the entire life cycle of the project and plant operation, and assist with the
selection of the equipment during design and tender stage, procurement and order tracking, documentation and testing of the equipment.
We have extended our service network, which includes Grundfos Service as well as accredited service partners. A variety of product rentals are also available, eliminating loss of production during repair downtime.
How is Grundfos establishing itself as a leader in desalination in Southern Africa? Grundfos lives by the motto ‘be, think, innovate’ – be the example, think for the future and innovate in all aspect of our business. We strongly believe that innovation is key to our success. We look at innovative ways to run our business and in the development of our products. Most importantly, we are not known for our products but for providing sustainable, intelligent solutions.
What can we look forward to from Grundfos in the future?
Grundfos has embarked on a digital journey that will provide our clients with more user-friendly, efficient and intelligent digital systems. Can you imagine systems that will request their own services, maintenance and even spare parts? We strive to be the world’s most intelligent pump manufacturer and provide intelligent and sustainable solutions, while still committing to reducing our carbon footprint and being environmentally friendly. The future is here and we have it now with our intelligent systems.
WATER TECHNOLOGIES
CHRIS BRAYBROOKE General Manager: Marketing
What is desalination’s potential for boosting SA’s potable water supplies?
CB Our oceans provide an almost unlimited potential water source, making desalination a very good option to combat the drought, particularly in Cape Town. Desalination has been around since 1960 and the technology and processes are well proven. This makes desalination a safe technology for municipalities to adopt.
We have successfully designed and constructed seven desalination plants in South Africa, the biggest being Mossel Bay, which produces 15 MLD for potable and industrial use. This could be replicated in Cape Town on a larger scale if needed.
What are the challenges?
There is a large responsibility to protect the environment and it is essential to acquire a water licence, marine report and environmental impact assessment before any work on the plant can begin. This is a lengthy process that requires planning far in advance.
Furthermore, many of South Africa’s oceans, particularly in the Cape region, are very rough, which impacts the cost and timeframe associated with intake and outfall lines. The high organic matter content in these oceans also necessitates special attention to pretreatment processes.
However, building desalination into South Africa’s long-term water strategy should allow us to preserve our natural water resources, which we could then call on in the case of a drought.
What about inland desalination?
Veolia’s desalination solutions are also available for treatment of high-salinity brackish water inland. Desalination
VEOLIA WATER TECHNOLOGIES SOUTH AFRICA
technologies are also used to treat wastewater, and this has been successfully achieved across the country for decades and follows a similar principle to seawater desalination.
This is probably the most efficient way for companies to achieve zero liquid discharge. We can treat any wastewater no matter how contaminated, even acid mine water. We should not see these streams of water as waste, but rather as opportunities to alleviate potable water challenges.
Would you recommend any other alternatives to boost water supply?
Government needs to seriously explore water reuse. This has been successfully implemented in many countries and offers a cost-effective solution to South Africa’s water challenges. Veolia has worked with the eThekwini Municipality to recycle wastewater for industrial consumers, saving up to 46 MLD of water. It is time for government to endorse this solution and educate the public on wastewater reuse for potable purposes.
deployed and redeployed as needed. For larger plants, we work with consultants to provide the best design suited to the region and water composition. We will also assist councils in identifying the best technological solutions, particularly for components like pretreatment.
All of our plants are available with operation and maintenance agreements, which are essential to maintaining the integrity of any plant. Our policy is to work with and train people from local regions to be able to operate and assist in maintaining the plant.
Desalination is often associated with high costs. How do you ensure costeffective solutions?
Energy makes up approximately half of the operation and maintenance costs of a desalination plant.
Our engineers and R&D Department are always looking for new ways to lower costs and boost efficiencies and all of our designs include energy-saving systems. We also explore ways to lower chemical consumption to reduce costs.
What desalination solutions does Veolia supply?
Veolia can meet the requirements for all desalination plants, from portable package plants through to large design and build plants.
Our modular plants offer a temporary, small-scale solution in an environmentally responsible manner. These package plants are fabricated within a compact and transportable container and can be quickly
An unexplored opportunity in South Africa is to combine desalination with renewable energy to cover the plant’s operating needs. This has been successfully achieved in several places worldwide.
Most importantly, it is vital to keep a plant operational at all times to reach optimal design capacity and cost-efficiency. Desalination plants are not designed to be turned on and off and there are high costs associated with doing so.
How is Veolia cementing itself as a leader in desalination in Southern Africa?
Veolia is 165 years old, operates in 55 countries and has access to over 350 patented technologies. Water will remain one of the biggest issues worldwide for years to come and our vast experience in the water sector puts us in a position to help deliver on our motto: ‘resourcing the world’.
All water is valuable, including that seen as waste. Instead, we need to start seeing these water streams as a valuable resource, and we are ready to engage with government and industry to make this happen.
Mossel Bay desalination plant
Mossel Bay RO skid unit
Emergency Water Treatment Solutions
• Large fleet of emergency water desalination plants for brackish and sea water applications
• Strategically located around the world for global market
• Rapid deployment
• Fast track solution
• Suitable for various applications and available in a range of sizes from 500m3/day to 50,000m3/day www.osmoflo.com
Desalination has been proven to effectively generate new and reliable water supplies. Quality Filtration Systems (QFS) and emergency water specialist Osmoflo have now collaborated to bring desalination solutions to South Africa.
QFS has supplied membrane water treatment equipment to the South African market since 1999, and offers the latest technology for desalination pretreatment. QFS has partnered with Osmoflo, an international desalination equipment supplier, to assist South Africans with the current water crisis in the Western Cape.
Osmoflo has one of the largest global fleets of emergency water treatment plants available for fast-track and rapid deployment projects, enabling the company to provide immediate assistance around the world.
As a progressive water treatment company, Osmoflo provides tailored, turnkey water, water recycling and water reuse solutions across the industrial, resources and municipal sectors globally. With a strong reputation for supplying water treatment solutions during emergency situations, Osmoflo stands ready to offer emergency desalination plants to the South African market.
“We are particularly aware of the dire situation facing some municipalities in South Africa. Through our global fleet of water treatment plants, we have the equipment available to provide immediate potable water assistance. Osmoflo is able to offer these water treatment options to potential clients as a fast-track solution, to meet emergency water requirements. We can also provide turnkey solutions for mining, energy, construction and general industry purposes,” says Bobby Watson, Senior Operations Manager: MENA, Osmoflo.
Emergency water solutions for South Africa
With a fleet of emergency water treatment equipment that includes sea and brackish water desalination plants, any emergency water requirement can be met. These plants are strategically located around the world to service a global market and ensure rapid deployment to meet the demands of fast-track projects.
Osmoflo plants are able to support the potable water augmentation efforts of Cape Town. With an immediate capability to provide seawater desalination plants, this has the potential to provide daily potable water supply to countless people within drought-stricken areas of South Africa.
Osmoflo can also provide conservation and recycling solutions to the South African mining sector, including Osmoflo’s patented Brine Squeezer technology. This offers high-recovery water treatment and can also be used in acid mine drainage treatment applications. The company’s emergency water and water reuse solutions are suited to a variety of applications and can be provided in a range of sizes and options.
Potable water supply to communities
Countless communities have benefitted from potable water supplies made available through the treatment of water using Osmoflo solutions. A specific example of this is the Barka water treatment project in Oman, Osmoflo’s largest project to date, where a 56.8 MLD desalination plant was provided for ACWA Power Barka. The plant provides excellent-quality potable water for up to 250 000 people in Oman – an invaluable water source for this community, in an environment where water is scare and consumption has increased rapidly in recent years. This project was delivered in record time, with potable water being produced within nine months of project award and full production capacity achieved in approximately 12 months. Desalination and water recycling/reuse has proven to be effective and successful in creating a new and reliable water supply. This creates sustainable long-term solutions that lower the demand for natural resources, improve water quality, reduce operating costs for business and industry, can eliminate charges associated with discharge and help clients implement water saving measures in their communities, business and operations.
Osmoflo Oman
Purification Seperation Filtration
Pall Water solves complex water treatment challenges with its best-in-class solutions and services. Municipal and industrial customers use Pall Water’s broad portfolio of water systems and modules to ensure the continual supply of safe and reliable water.
Prei Instrumentation is a level 2 BB-EEE certified company, with a 51% BBE-EEE shareholding.
Mobile solutions to SA’s water challenge
As parts of the country remain on high-level water restrictions and Cape Town approaches day zero, municipalities need to look to alternative sources to boost potable water supplies.
Although South Africa is a semi-arid country, the recent drought has highlighted the importance of seeking alternative water resources to meet growing future demands. Cape Town, in particular, has felt the brunt of the drought. Coastal cities like Cape Town, being surrounded by unlimited water, need to seriously consider desalination as a possible solution, or the more cost-effective water reuse,” says Steve Herbst, managing director, Prei Instrumentation.
When facing water challenges –whether caused by emergencies, equipment failures, seasonal demand or planned system upgrades or replacements – municipal and industrial water providers require cost-effective solutions to supplement their supply. Pall Water’s mobile water treatment systems, designed to supplement or replace systems on a permanent or temporary basis, offer a solution.
Prei Instrumentation is the South African distributor for Pall Water, whose water systems treat over 1 billion gallons of water for thousands of municipalities around the globe every day.
Pall’s Aria FAST mobile water units use robust membrane filtration for municipal water treatment, seawater reverse osmosis (RO) pretreatment, water recycling and reuse, mining water and process water to deliver 10 m3/h to 320 m3/h of water. Multiple units can be configured for larger capacities, providing the quality and quantity of water needed.
Pall’s hollow-fibre filtration membranes, with a 10-year warranty, offer consistent outlet quality regardless of feedwater quality and influent turbidity. The membranes also provide a higher level of protection than conventional water treatment for water contamination, as well as a smaller footprint (40% less than conventional), together with a high recovery rate (95%).
A fully mobile system
The Aria FAST 60C system is a complete, automated Pall membrane filtration system in a 12.2 m long Hi Cube container. With appropriate site preparation and minimal labour, the system can be operational within hours.
“This would be perfect for Cape Town, which is looking for plug-and-play-type solutions to boost its potable water supplies,” says Herbst.
Using state-of-the-art hollow-fibre membranes, the Aria FAST mobile system can transform groundwater, surface water and secondary effluent into potable or industrial water free from harmful bacteria, cysts, and particles at a rate of up to 280 m3/h.
The system is designed to operate in tandem with other water treatment technologies, such as RO.
The membrane technology provides robust pretreatment for seawater desalination, reducing capital and operating costs. This advanced pretreatment is able to handle variable seawater, upsets, algal blooms and red tide. This is particularly important for coastal regions like Cape
Town, which are characterised by string currents and high organic content.
An alternative solution
While desalination has the potential to provide an almost unlimited resource, it can be a costly solution, and cities need to start investigating treated wastewater for reuse, explains Herbst.
“The City of Cape Town has 27 very wellrun wastewater treatment plants that are producing excellent-quality effluent water. Currently, 13 of these plants are equipped to produce treated effluent suitable for reuse for industrial and irrigation purposes. Treated wastewater can be purified through Pall PVDF membranes manufactured through the TIPS process. These are among the strongest membranes on the market, and are not affected by chlorine or chlorinated water,” says Herbst.
They produce water with a typical turbidity of less than 0.02 NTU and a maximum turbidity of less than 0.1 NTU. Microorganisms like cryptospyridiaand giardiacysts are removed to 99.9999% while particles are removed to nondetectable limits.
This can be achieved with containerised plants able to produce up to 20 Mℓ/day at less than R15 per kℓ
“As water scarcity becomes the new norm, municipalities and industrial users will be forced to turn to these kinds of solutions to meet water demands. It is, therefore, important that we begin to include them in our water strategy as early as possible to circumvent any further water crises,” concludes Herbst.
First, although we’ve all heard of it, a surprisingly small number of people really know what AMD is. There’s a tendency to call any water that has been impacted by mining activity in any way AMD, even if it’s not acidic and has not been inside a mine. The vast majority of mining-impacted water is problematic because of its salinity, not its acidity. And mining-impacted water is more commonly affected by waste rock dumps or tailings storage facilities, which are above ground, rather than the mine workings below ground. So for simplicity’s sake, let’s talk about acid rock drainage (ARD).
ARD has a pH in the range of 2 to 6, contains moderate to high concentrations of dissolved metals, and high levels of sulfate. It requires treatment for acid neutralisation and metal and sulfate removal. ARD is usually treated in order to recover the water for reuse, to protect human health, to protect the environment (specifically surface water and groundwater resources), to recover useful products from the ARD such as
metals, to comply with legal obligations, and to provide for sustainable land use after mine closure.
The treatment methods available for ARD are summarised in the Global Acid Rock Drainage Guide (www.gardguide.com). The category of treatment that should be used in a particular instance is determined by the volume and quality of ARD to be treated, the purpose of treatment, and the intended quality of the treated water. Chemical treatment methods appear in all four treatment categories (neutralisation, metals removal, desalination, and specific target pollutant treatment).
Neutralisation of acidity and precipitation of metals and/or salts are perhaps the most commonly used chemical processes.
Neutralisation
The costs of each ARD treatment system based on neutralisation (in terms of the reagent amount and cost, capital investment, and maintenance of the
Acid mine drainage (AMD) – we’ve all heard of it. We all know it’s a serious problem, and we all know something has to be done. But what? By Jo Burgess*
(Source:Mintek)
dispensing system) and sludge disposal must be evaluated to determine the most cost-effective system. The United States Office of Surface Mining has developed a software package, AMDTreat, which can be used to decide among the various options. AMDTreat can be downloaded from amd.osmre.gov. Another tool available is the Excel-based Abates program (www.earthsystems.com.au/resources/ acid-drainage) developed by Earth Systems for acid-base accounting and reagent requirements and treatment costs. Neutralisation is almost always achieved using chemical methods. Selection of an alkali material depends on the secondary impacts associated with the use of a specific alkali residual on treated mine water quality such as ammonia content (aquatic environmental, eco-toxicity impacts), and increased salinity, the cost of the alkali, and the treatment objectives, specifically the removal of metals. The industry standard is lime neutralisation in a high-density sludge (HDS) process due to the low cost of lime, the efficiency of the HDS in the use of lime, the high density of the waste sludge (which makes it easier to handle and dispose of than less dense sludge), and the robustness of the process.
The economic advantages of the HDS process may be about to change, though. When flue gas desulfurisation becomes a requirement, the demand for lime, and therefore its price, may well increase.
Metals removal
Removal of metals is often based on chemical precipitation, formation of solids particles containing the metal precipitates, and separation of the solids from the drainage. Alkali is added to the
Proven with many demonstration scales, large commercial plants
General application to high metals, high SO 4 mine water
High water
Large waste sludge production
Potential for CaSO4 recovery
Reliable and robust performance Robust process
Proven, with several large commercial plants
General application, but with appropriate pretreatment
Demonstrated on pilot scale, no large commercial plants
Demonstrated for CaSO4 type waters, with appropriate pretreatment
Sludge and brine production Large waste sludge production
Potential, but not demonstrated
Process good performance, but sensitive to pretreatment
Proven, with a limited number of commercial plants
Specialised application to high SO4 mine waters
Small waste sludge production
Potential for CaSO4 recovery High potential for sulfur recovery
Process depends on carbon source dosing
Moderate energy usage (heating of anaerobic reactors)
IX process performance and resin recovery subject to interference
Biological process sensitive to toxics, fluctuating feed water quality and environmental conditions
ARD to reach the target pH at which the metal of interest precipitates. The choice of chemical additive is made according to the additive’s handling and health and safety considerations, availability, equipment and infrastructure requirements, purchasing cost, and the treatment objectives.
Desalination
Mining-impacted waters may contain a wide range of anionic species, but sulfate is typical of many mine and rock drainages and often represents the primary contaminant. Consequently, sulfate removal is possibly the most important treatment objective, and is also often key to the reduction of total dissolved solids.
Some sulfate is removed by gypsum precipitation during neutralisation reactions if lime, limestone, or another calcium source is added during water treatment. In addition, a number of precipitation processes have been developed for specific application to high-sulfate-content mine waters,
including the barium sulfate process (BSP), and Savmin, Mintek’s ettringite precipitation process.
The BSP is based on the addition of a barium salt to re-precipitate sulfate. The insoluble barium sulfate sludge is separated and removed from the main stream process. This barium is recovered from the sulfate sludge and recycled to the main stream process. The barium sulfate process has not yet been developed past a pilot-scale demonstration. While this process is very effective, it is challenged by the use of an environmentally toxic compound as a treatment reagent, handling of a toxic and hazardous gas (H2S), and the requirement for thermal regeneration of the barium reagent. Operating conditions are not yet suitable for BSP to be a widespread treatment method. By contrast, two variations of the ettringite precipitation process (Savmin and cost-effective sulfate removal – i.e. CESR) have been developed at scale. The ettringite process is based on the addition of aluminium hydroxide in a high-pH environment resulting in precipitation of
ettringite (a hydrated calcium aluminosulfate mineral):
A simplified process flow diagram of the Savmin process is shown in Figure 1. The CESR process is similar in concept, but it uses a proprietary chemical derived from the cement industry to precipitate ettringite.
Table 1 summarises the conditions under which chemical desalination methods should be selected over the alternatives. Chemical treatment methods are most suitable for general application to ARD with high concentrations of dissolved metals and sulfate, in situations where operational chemical costs can be borne, and in locations that are not remote, so personnel can be on-site to operate the process.
*JoBurgessistheresearchmanager: SustainableandIntegratedIndustrial WaterManagement,andMineWater TreatmentandManagementatthe Water Research Commission.
Tell me about Aquatico and the laboratory services you offer the water sector.
RE Aquatico is an established environmental monitoring and testing company that has been in operation since 1996. We are a proud service provider that offers cutting-edge technology and innovation to our extensive customer base.
Aquatico Laboratories offers the testing of ground-, waste-, surface and drinking water across all sectors of society, including mining and industries, municipalities and government, as well as estates and private homeowners.
What kind of water assessments can you offer your clients?
We offer inorganic analysis of major cations and anions, trace metals, microbiological analyses and organic analyses. Emphasis is placed on turning environmental data into management information that can assess risk as measured against legislative criteria.
What accreditations does your laboratory have?
Aquatico is a Sanas-accredited testing laboratory (No. T0685) governed by ISO/IEC 17025:2005. The laboratory also takes part in the SABS proficiency testing scheme for hydrochemical analysis and the National Laboratory Association proficiency testing scheme for microbiological laboratories.
How do you ensure the integrity of laboratory results?
We do this by investing in advanced analytical technology and highly qualified personnel. We have also developed a software data management system to ensure the integrity of laboratory results through a rigorous set of quality procedures. This reliance on upper-end technology greatly eliminates human error. In-house software development is an ongoing focus in our operations to ensure
the highest integrity – from sampling through to analysis and reporting.
What expertise does Aquatico offer and where does the company operate?
Aquatico offers a highly skilled and experienced team of multidisciplined scientists who can form a link between monitoring the environment and the management and engineering of environmental solutions.
We serve all nine South African provinces and have extended our services into Africa, covering most of the SADC countries. Our head office, which also hosts our modern laboratory facilities, is situated in Pretoria, Gauteng.
Since the start of the Cape drought, people have been looking to alternative water resources such as boreholes. What should people keep in mind when it comes to water quality?
We have seen a noteworthy rise in the number of private homeowners and businesses establishing boreholes as a primary or backup water supply to their properties. I would say that the most important factor is to ensure the fitness of use of the water supply by having the water tested by a recognised laboratory, to provide a comprehensive analysis. Cognisance needs to be taken of municipal by-laws and other legislation with regard to the private use of groundwater resources.
Many of South Africa’s wastewater treatment works are not compliant with minimum standards. How can Aquatico assist in ensuring effluent output meets quality standards?
The old adage that ‘you can't manage what you don't measure’ holds true. Aquatico combines field monitoring, laboratory analysis, data management and reporting as a single, integrated and
"You can't manage what you don't measure."
Ryno Erdmann, Group CEO, Aquatico, discusses the importance of laboratory testing and the services Aquatico has to offer.
scientific product. This service is further enhanced by specialist investigations like site audits, Blue/Green Drop assessments and impact assessments. Aquatico has established a team of scientists supported by cutting-edge sampling infrastructure and analytical technology, as well as an integrated software management system to provide the full service associated with environmental monitoring programmes.
What can the sector look forward to from Aquatico in 2018?
We are in a continuous state of investment, development and improvement in terms of our service offering. Focus areas for 2018 include a broadening of our analytical scope and accreditation schedule, maintaining and improving on our five-toseven-working-day turnaround time, an improved BBBEE score, and a continuation of our personal and professional service to our customer base. We are really excited about 2018.
Protecting urban wetlands
World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on 2 February and marks the date when the Convention on Wetlands was adopted on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
The Ramsar Convention is an intergovernmental treaty providing a framework for action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
South African wetlands
Of the 2 288 Ramsar sites listed across the globe, covering 220 928 531 ha, South Africa has 23 sites covering 557 028 ha. The largest of these is the Natal Drakensberg Park, spanning an incredible 242 813 ha.
Set in an extremely rugged mountainous area along the border between
‘Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future’ is the theme for World Wetlands Day in 2018, addressing the need to conserve and protect wetlands in cities where development on top of key sites contributes to climate change, damages the environment and exacerbates floods.
South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Drakensberg is the most important mountain catchment in South Africa due to its high yield and quality of water, supplying rural, agricultural, urban and industrial users downstream.
Conserved since the turn of the century, the entire wetland system is in a near-pristine state and serves as the origin of the three largest rivers in KwaZulu-Natal.
The area supports numerous endemic and endangered plant and animal species, as well as being renowned for the quantity, quality and variety of prehistoric rock art, enjoyable hiking trails and breathtaking views. For these reasons, the area has become a hub for both tourism and conservation.
The Kampala wetlands in Uganda are facing extinction (Credit: Nassanga Moureen)
The second largest wetland in South Africa is the St Lucia System, also in KwaZulu-Natal. Spanning 155 500 ha, this system supports the largest estuarine prawn nursery area in South Africa, making it an important feeding ground for flamingos and other birds. It also provides a spawning and nursery area for 82 species of fish and is a breeding area for crocodiles.
Large mammal inhabitants include hippopotamuses and black rhinos. Human activities such as cattle grazing, slash and burn cultivation, and planting alien invasive species have caused substantial devastation. The site has
also been threatened by large-scale heavy titanium and heavy metal mining but was spared through international cooperation and conservation efforts.
The third largest South African wetland is the Turtle Beaches and Coral Reefs of
RAMSAR WETLANDS
Number of contracting parties: 169
Number of Ramsar sites: 2 288
Total surface of designated sites: 220 928 531 ha
3.
7.
Tongaland, which supports 16 species of coral, 1 200 species of fish, five species of marine turtles, 41 species of marine mammals, and 49 species of birds. The area is popular for recreation and covers 39 500 ha.
Urban development
Human beings need water to survive, which is why virtually all cities are built next to or on top of wetlands. Wetlands also provide other benefits for people, including recreation, transportation and strategically important areas for defence.
According to the UN report on World Urbanization Prospects, “The urban population of the world is expected to increase by
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
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more than two thirds by 2050, with nearly 90% of the increase to take place in the urban areas of Africa and Asia.”
More than half of the world lives in cities. These cities exist hand in hand with wetlands. While this introduces a number of threats to these precious and precarious ecosystems, it also introduces a number of opportunities.
Wetlands are wonderful; they sustain life, provide opportunities for animal and bird viewing, and create environments for wildlife to survive and propagate. They act as nature’s ‘sponges’, soaking up stormwater and mitigating flooding – events that are occuring with more frequency due to climate change. They also take up land valuable to property developers and other industries. For this reason, it’s important to find a way for human beings and these important environmental systems to continue to coexist and sustain one another.
1. Natal Drakensberg Park (155 500 ha)
2. St Lucia System (155 500 ha)
Turtle Beaches and Coral Reefs of Tongaland (39 500 ha)
4. Prince Edward Islands (37 500 ha)
5. Kosi Bay (10 982 ha)
6. Ndumo Game Reserve (10 117 ha)
Ntsikeni Nature Reserve (9 200 ha)
8. Lake Sibaya (7 750 ha)
9. Makuleke Wetlands (7 757 ha)
10. Langebaan (6 000 ha)
11. Verloren Vallei Nature Reserve (5 891 ha)
SOUTH AFRICA HAS 23 RAMSAR WETLANDS
12. Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve (4 754 ha)
13. Nylsvley Nature Reserve (3 970 ha)
14. Barberspan (3 118 ha)
15. Orange River Mouth (2 000 ha)
16. Blesbokspruit (1 858 ha)
False Bay Nature Reserve (1 542 ha)
Verlorenvlei (1 500 ha)
Bot-Kleinmond Estuarine System (1 349.8 ha)
Wilderness Lakes (1 300 ha)
uMgeni Vlei Nature Reserve (958 ha)
De Mond (918 ha)
De Hoop Vlei (750 ha)
A floating house in the Mamiraua Sustainable Development Reserve, Amazon (Credit: Aline Fidelix)
YS Falls in St Elizabeth, Jamaica (Credit: Nache Smith)
Kids having fun at the beach, showing how important wetlands are for our recreational purposes (Credit: Brian Osweta)
Pelicans in the Peel-Yalgorup system (Credit: David Rennie)
Credit: Cirilo Jr Lagnason
Part II of III
URBAN NETWORK RE-ENGINEERING
A group of researchers and experienced water professionals from Griffith University and Seqwater in South East Queensland, Australia, got together to find out how advanced sensors, big data and artificial intelligence can be used to improve urban network management.
By Edoardo Bertone1,2, Khoi Nguyen1, Oz Sahin1,3, Guilherme Franklin de Oliveira2, Rodney Stewart1,2, Hong Zhang1,2 and Kelvin O’Halloran4
Self-organising maps (SOMs) were used in order to visually inspect data and cluster variables with similar patterns. This helped identify links between certain chemicals and specific water-quality parameters. Although most of them can be guessed based on how the treatment process works, some correlations were unexpected – i.e. coagulation polymers with alkalinity. From this, it can be seen
that data analysis helped in developing accurate models that go beyond common understanding. Different predictive models were needed to identify different chemicals – for example, data-driven, mathematical, or chemical models.
Chemicals prediction model
The predictions of each chemical were linked together in a total cost prediction model, which also accounted for the
different electricity cost related to withdrawing water from Hinze Dam (pumping) or Little Nerang Dam (gravity). Finally, through a Monte Carlo-based approach, where 100 000 simulations were run with different combinations of intake amounts (e.g. 30% from Hinze Dam Gate 3 and 70% from Little Nerang Dam Gate 1, etc.), a model giving indications on the optimal blend of raw water sources – i.e. the one minimising the treatment costs –was developed.
Dam volume forecasting model
As a consequence of developing such an intake selection optimisation model, an automatic need of ensuring the small Little Nerang Dam does not get depleted if consistently selected as the most economical source of water for the Mudgeeraba WTP arose. The result was a storage volume prediction model, forecasting the volume of Little Nerang Dam six weeks ahead, was developed.
Full water capacity overflowing at the iconic Hinze Dam's spillway and bridge
There have been several water-level fluctuation models developed over the years, but most of them have a longer or shorter forecasting horizon. For this particular problem, similarly to the manganese prediction model, we decided to take advantage of existing weather forecasts. In particular, we used the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s seasonal streamflow forecasts (SSF). These provide the probability, over the next three months, of having an inflow near, above or below median values. Given the probabilistic nature of this input, a Monte Carlo approach was also adopted, where a developed nonlinear regression model, predicting dam volume one week ahead based on inflow and predicted outflows, is applied iteratively six times by considering quasi-random inflow values (i.e. proportionally to the SSF probabilities).
fDOM calibration model
An fDOM sensor represents a simple, sensitive, rapid, non-invasive methodology that provides an in situ estimation of the fluorescent fraction of DOM in the water. However, fluorescence is subject to interferences caused by changes in temperature, turbidity, and concentration of chromophores in the matrix. In order to obtain a reliable, representative measure of fDOM in the water, compensation for these effects on the probe readings is required. At higher temperatures, the probability increases for an excited electron going back to its ground state through radiationless decay.
In addition, suspended particles can affect optical measurements through light scattering and light absorption, with the degree of fDOM signal bias determined by particle concentration, size distribution, chemical composition and shape. As water turbidity increases, a higher amount of the excitation light emitted by the fDOM sensor scatters, which means there is less light available in the sampling volume to excite fDOM. The result is that the fDOM signal becomes nonlinear over a certain turbidity level.
Also, the inner filtering effect (IFE) must be considered. IFE accounts for the fact that the concentration of DOM in the matrix attenuates the exciting light flux on its path through the solution, meaning that, at high DOC concentrations, fDOM is underestimated. In order to develop a compensation model based on statistical analysis of the laboratory output data, both multivariate regression models (i.e. where all the interference factors are accounted for at the same time) and sequential models (i.e. where separate regression models for each interference factor are developed) were built and tested. We opted for the sequential compensation of interferences on fDOM, as it resulted in smaller errors when compared to the multivariate models. Our model for temperature compensation was built based on linear regression of fDOM against temperature, at an appropriate DOC concentration. The development of the equations for turbidity compensation involved threshold autoregressive models, in order to address non-linearity issues after a certain turbidity level (~70 NFU). Compensation of IFE was done by the extrapolation of the very first points, where its effects should be negligible; DOC concentration was still low (<2 mg/ℓ) and UV254 values less than 0.1 cm-1. Our data-driven models were also compared with equations proposed in previous studies. Figure 2 schematically displays the model development stages for this research component. Subsequent laboratory work endeavoured to link the compensated fDOM readings with UV254, DOC and SUVA values.
Water
end-use disaggregation model With the availability of collected data, the process of disaggregating water end-use events from the raw data could
FIGURE 2 fDOM calibration and prediction model methodology
be completed. Figure 3 provides an overview of the key starting decision point for the algorithm, namely, whether the flow data event detected is a single event (i.e. solid line in Figure 3) or combined event (dotted line in Figure 3). Single events are those that occur in isolation (e.g. toilet flush) while combined events have simultaneous occurrences of single events (e.g. shower occurring while someone is using a tap) and are, therefore, more challenging to disaggregate.
At the very first step, the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) algorithm is used to recognise if an event is a single or combined event. The outcomes from this process are a group of classified single events and another group containing unclassified combined events. In the case of the single events, it is very likely that not all of them are correctly assigned to the appropriate categories due to the high complexity level of the present problem. Therefore, to achieve a reliable single event classification, additional techniques including Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm, and time of day probability need to be used, in conjunction with the HMM technique. The next important task involves the combined event classification, which remains one of the most complicated problems in the field of pattern matching. To achieve this goal, a
hybrid combination of gradient vector filtering, HMM and DTW was employed that resulted in an overall accuracy of 88% when being verified against 50 independent households.
Extreme events model
The first step for the development of the extreme events model for the NSW reservoir was to develop a conceptual model of the system, which was done in two stages with two different workshops (one to draft the model and one to refine). During the second workshop, the preliminary binary number (BN) was also supplied, after conversion of the conceptual model (mainly consisting of eliminating feedback loops and defining proper state thresholds). For approximately half of the nodes (variables), historical data was available. For the remaining nodes, the conditional probability tables were filled by stakeholders during the second workshop. In this way, the BN could be run based on a hybrid combination of qualitative and quantitative data. Subsequently, said model was converted to a secure digital (SD) model. A fuzzy logic approach was deployed in order to numerically quantify all the links between SD variables even in the presence of uncertainty or missing data, by incorporating some BN outputs.
To be concluded in the March/April 2018 issue of Water&Sanitation Africa
For a full list of references, contact the lead author: e.bertone@griffith.edu.au
Fuzzy SD, in which fuzzy logic is integrated to SD, is critical when the modelled system would not allow for the assignment of ‘crisp’ values to all the parameters due to uncertainty or missing data. If historical data for the same time period is available, the correlation between linked SD parameters can be determined using regression; however, as mentioned, for this modelled system, this was not often the case, thus fuzzy numbers were assigned to certain variables based on the opinions of different experts involved in the project (participatory approach – output of BN). In particular, only the state of interest of each variable (e.g. for wind, only strong wind was of relevance for this model) was added in the SD to reduce dimensionality and simplify the development of the regression model or fuzzy logic approach.
Water tariff model
Similarly to the extreme events model, the water tariff model was developed based on a participatory modelling approach because, although some of the inputs (e.g. water consumption) had numerical data available (based on smart meters), more qualitative data was needed from different types of stakeholders – i.e. both the water consumers (through a social survey)
and the water suppliers – in order to better identify scope and objectives (i.e. which alternative pricing schemes could be considered financially effective but at the same time socially accepted). Also, additional data was retrieved from the literature (e.g. demand elasticity). Following a continuous engagement with such stakeholders through several workshops and consultations, an SD model was developed, consisting of three subcomponents; namely, a revenue forecasting module, a water-bill module, and a demand-feedback module.
1 Cities Research Institute, Griffith University, South East Queensland, Australia
2 School of Engineering, Griffith University, South East Queensland, Australia
3 Griffith Climate Change Response Program, South East Queensland, Australia
4 Seqwater, South East Queensland, Australia
FIGURE 3 Water disaggregation algorithm basic flow chart
AMR systems transfer data either through a wireless network or a mobile data connection, or even wired connections. This is an essential consideration when deciding whether or not a given area is right for AMR: the area will require some form of connection, even though only a relatively low bandwidth is required.
“For the device to work, or the AMR reading to actually be reflected on the bill, you need to have that supporting infrastructure in place. Instead of sending out a meter reader, someone at the
Automated Meter Reading (AMR) uses technology to capture meter readings directly from the meter, sending that information through to a centralised database or billing system. Dr Pieter Crous, Pr. Eng. for management services at consulting engineering firm SMEC South Africa, discusses when to use AMR.
For the device to work, or the AMR reading to actually be reflected on the bill, you need to have that supporting network infrastructure in place.
Water Services Authority (WSA) simply logs on to the system and requests the latest reading from the meter,” Crous explains.
“Mobile connectivity is better in urban areas, and the philosophy has generally been that the denser the community, the more appropriate AMR becomes. However, despite geographic considerations, it ultimately comes down to the capacity and capability of the WSA,” he adds.
and used correctly. Such is the case with AMR, which can be used to reduce WSA and municipalities’ non-revenue water losses, if conditions on the user and customer sides are optimal.
“AMR is a valuable technology in terms of its ability to reduce non-revenue water losses but whether or not its full value can be realised will depend on external factors – e.g. the type of customer for whom the service is being provided and their ability to implement the required changes. Another equally important factor is the capacity and capability of the WSA to handle the large amounts of data acquired through AMR, and their ability to make this data available to the customer.
“Analysing this data for hundreds or thousands of users can be a massive task to undertake,” he adds. The WSAs • Mesh
Data management Technology has disrupted so many areas of modern-day society, yet these disruptions can be positive if implemented
On the capacity side, WSAs typically rely on the opening and closing reading for the month to determine the billed consumption. “The benefit of AMR is that it provides the WSA with customer consumption data at extremely small intervals; whether it be weekly, a daily, or hourly,” explains Crous.
Dr Pieter Crous, Pr. Eng. for management services at consulting engineering firm SMEC South Africa
will need to have dedicated resources to manage the intermediate data points generated through the AMR system, otherwise they risk being overloaded by the additional generated datasets.
There are also limits to how much AMR can achieve on the consumer side. “AMR takes into account only meter reading
AMR is a valuable technology in terms of its ability to reduce non-revenue water losses but whether or not its full value can be realised will depend on external factors.
integrity improvement. It doesn’t necessarily look at whether customers are paying for water services or other similar technical issues downstream. Additionally, if those meter readings are not integrated into the billing system, then a lo t of that value of the AMR system is lost,” says Crous.
Ideal case
Part of choosing the ideal case for AMR implementation is to ensure the WSA or municipality has the capability to follow an appropriate methodology based on the target area. For example, an ideal case for AMR implementation would be a large group of businesses in an industrial area with high connectivity.
“The best methodology for improving metering accuracy and efficiency in this scenario would be to start by prioritising the consolidation of customer meters, so that each customer has as few meters as possible, preferably one meter connection per customer,” explains Crous.
AMR becomes an appropriate technology where the metering and billing processes are clearly defined and the WSA can adapt these processes to facilitate the impact that AMR will have on the existing processes and realise the perceived benefits. “Whether or not to implement AMR ultimately comes down to return on investment, a business case, and what makes sense for the municipality or WSA,” he concludes.
INFORMATION ACCELERATION
Using water management devices to empower municipalities and consumers in combating water scarcity
SASTT reports back from Washington DC
Attending the annual International Society of Trenchless Technology (ISTT) No-Dig conference and exhibition in Washington, DC earlier this year, courtesy of the Southern African Society for Trenchless Technology (SASTT), yielded incredible value for the local trenchless sector. By Alaster Goyns
As No-Dig 2018 is to be hosted by SASTT, two SASTT board members attended No-Dig 2017 to get a feel for how these events are organised.
The scale of the American event, hosted by the American Society for Trenchless Technology (NASTT), was enormous, with nearly 2 300 delegates, 160 lectures, six concurrent streams and 190 exhibitors.
Most new developments presented at the conference were actually refinements of existing techniques, with many of these being the adaptation of systems originally used for gravity applications to suit pressure systems, with particular emphasis on smaller-diameter pipes.
Unlike South Africa, where it is just contractors that focus on trenchless technology (TT), there were also consultants focusing their efforts in the field of TT at the American event.
There appeared to be a more flexible approach in choosing the technique to be used on a particular project and, at times, more than one technique would be used as the conditions along a project changed.
In South Africa, TT is most frequently used when an asset has seriously deteriorated, although this appears not to be the case for a number of other countries, where rehabilitation is carried out sooner.
NASTT’s slogan is ‘Educate Train Research Publish’, and this event made it clear that a concerted effort has been made to put this into practice.
Urban services
Global population growth, especially in cities, and the provision of new and the upgrading of existing underground utility services, primarily for water supply and wastewater disposal, is an international problem.
It is increasingly difficult, and sometimes impossible, to use conventional open-trench techniques. The development of TT for installing new and rehabilitating buried pipelines has significantly reduced the social, commercial and environmental impacts of trenching.
A wide range of techniques is available for installing and rehabilitating services from less than 100 mm to in excess of 10 m in
diameter and the various ancillary functions needed to support these techniques.
The difference between TT and other subsurface construction techniques depends upon the size of the passage under construction. Large-diameter tunnels, such as those constructed by tunnelboring machines and drilling and
TRENCHLESS TECHNIQUES
Trenchless techniques can be broadly grouped as:
• renovation and repair, which consists of the restoration of defective pipelines and other underground structures
• on-line replacement of existing pipelines, which consists of the breaking or pulling-out of existing pipelines and simultaneously installing new ones
• installation of new buried pipelines where digging trenches is difficult or impossible
• several supporting activities essential for the success of any trenchless activity, such as inspecting pipeline and site conditions.
blasting techniques, are larger versions of subsurface construction and major tunnel projects of this nature are infrequent for most cities.
In South Africa, the urban population is growing at about 2.5% per year. This is compounded by the deterioration of ageing water services and the backlog in providing new services. As a result, it is essential to look at how these problems have been addressed elsewhere and how solutions can be adapted to local
conditions. The interest in TT started in the western world in the early 1980s, and in 1986, the ISTT was established. The SASTT was established in 1992, and in 1994, it was one of the first societies to become affiliated with the ISTT.
Notably, the NASTT was founded two years before the SASTT and the Australasian Society for Trenchless Technology formed a year later. These have both made great strides in adopting and adapting the technologies
developed in Europe and, in certain fields, have become the world leaders.
South Africa has not kept pace with these developments. Although most of the techniques have been used in South Africa, the potential for using these and extending their application has not been realised.
There are several reasons for this, including a lack of uptake from decision-makers and a lack of education, training and certification structures for practitioners.
The NASTT has been proactive in addressing similar issues through several measures, including the publication of ‘good practice’ manuals and training courses, free TT webinars, funded and co-funded research, ASTM standards and TT chapters at no less than 18 universities.
It would certainly be a challenge for the SASTT to try to emulate what has been done by the NASTT but, conceptually, there is a lot that could be done in adopting and adapting the ideas.
2017 conference and exhibition
Full papers from No-Dig 2017 could be downloaded from the ISTT website. This meant that, to benefit from attending a particular presentation, it was necessary to download the paper and study it.
It was clear from attending these presentations that more effort was put into assessing the condition of services and designing their rehabilitation than is taken in South Africa. Although the techniques and materials on display at the exhibition stands showed that there were many refinements, there was little that was
Trenchless Technology Specialist
CIPP curing with ultraviolet light
radically new. However, there were developments in the equipment used for the inspection and condition assessment of services. Of particular significance was the development of multisensor equipment, which could determine whether there were cavities in the soil around a pipeline and the thickness of the pipe wall.
Techniques and materials
There are several requirements to meet for any buried services. For water services, these are hydraulic capacity, water tightness, strength and durability. The techniques and materials used need to be selected based on the intended use, surface constraints and subsurface conditions.
These also depend on whether the project is a new service installation or a rehabilitation project. Rehabilitation involves the improvement or restoration of an existing utility to enhance its performance and extends its service life. It can be performed on a whole pipeline or a short section, depending on what is needed.
Trenchless techniques involve pushing, pulling, expanding or a combination of these to place a product pipe or lining into its final location. How this is done will determine what pipe or lining material to use. For pushing, rigid pipe material with high compressive strength is used. Typically, concrete or clay pipe
would be used for pipe-jacking or microtunnelling.
For pulling, flexible pipe material with a relatively high tensile strength is used. Typically, HDPE would be used for sliplining, on-line replacement and directional drilling. HDPE pipes have the flexibility to allow for tighter radius bends and, therefore, shorter access pits than other materials such as fusible PVC or steel.
HDPE pipe has an advantage in that it can be fusion-welded into a continuous length with a constant outside diameter and then pulled into place. This is a particular advantage when used for directional drilling where lengths in excess of a 1 000 m are sometimes installed. These techniques can be used for both pressure and non-pressure systems.
For expanding a pipe into place, a material that is initially soft or deformed is used. It can be inserted into the host pipe before being pushed outwards to conform to the host pipe shape and then being cured or expanded to form a tight-fitting lining.
There are several ways that this can be achieved, each requiring different materials. The most commonly used is the cured-in-place pipe (CIPP), where a fabric tube is impregnated with a
polyester, epoxy or other type of resin, which is inserted into a pipeline, inflated against the pipe wall and then cured. As these thermosets have higher strengths than thermoplastics, thinner wall sections are used and it is usually possible to rehabilitate a pipeline without compromising its hydraulic capacity. CIPP is increasingly being used for pressure systems.
Techniques have been developed to form a liner inside an existing pipe by spirally winding a profiled PVC or HDPE
Horizontal directional drilling
Spiral-wound TT
strip that interlocks with the adjacent strip to form a pipe that spirals along the pipeline. The winding machine can be in a fixed location or travel through the host pipe as the pipe within the pipe is formed. These systems are only used for gravity systems. When the machine moves through the pipe, host pipes in excess of 2 m can be renovated. There
are various other ways that a liner can be deliberately deformed before inserting it into a host pipe and then allowing it to revert to its original shape and fitting tightly inside the host pipe.
Available literature
This is where NASTT really shows commitment to its slogan. However, the ASTM standards for TT are written compactly with little explanation. It takes some time to understand them and put them into practice. The
publications available for purchase at the conference gave comprehensive explanations of both the practice and theory that were far more reader-friendly than the ASTM’s. Those purchased and which will be used to transfer knowledge to South Africa were:
• NASTT’S CIPP good practices guidelines
• NASTT’S pipe-bursting good practices guidelines
• NASTT’S laterals good practices guidelines
• NASTT’S horizontal directional drilling good practices guidelines.
Conclusion
The real benefit of attending a conference of this sort was going through the notes taken, getting in touch with the contacts made through the networking, and studying the publications purchased. The latter will be particularly valuable in disseminating useful information about TT in South Africa. For a full list of references, please contact Alaster Goyns, one of South Africa’s foremost experts on TT installation techniques, by email on alaster.goyns@mweb.co.za.
CRITICAL CHANGES AHEAD FOR PLASTIC TANK MANUFACTURERS
The Association of Rotational Moulders of Southern Africa (ARMSA) announced a new South African industry tank standard for polyethylene chemical and water storage tanks.
The SANS 1731:2017 standard, developed in conjunction with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), offers a warranty to members of the broader construction, plumbing, architecture and design, landscaping and built industry as well as to home owners that tank manufacturers conform to world best practise.
Productivity Engineering Services and Consultants (PESC), an independent auditing company appointed by ARMSA, will regularly audit tank manufacturers and issue SANS 1731:2017 certificates to those who comply.
For more info on the standard or compliant manufacturers contact info@armsa.co.za or the appointed tank standard auditor francois@pescon.co.za
SASTT Executive Committee members
Sam Efrat (left) and Alaster Goyns at NoDig 2018 in Washington
During the Energy and Water Sector
Education and Training Authority (EWSETA) AGM held in November 2017, the EWSETA leadership was pleased to report great strides across its operational spheres. One of the key issues arising from interactions with participants was the need to focus on infrastructure plumbers.
By Frances Ringwood
Previously, EWSETA (formerly ESETA) was better known for training electricians. At this year’s AGM, CEO Errol Gradwell showed strong support for the training of technicians and skilled artisans in the water sector, opening his address by saying: “I recently had the privilege of attending the Stockholm International Water Institute World Water Week Conference in Sweden. It was encouraging and exciting to learn how water and wastewater can be used in a circular economy to create opportunities for social and economic upliftment.”
EWSETA’s mandate is to ensure that new labour entrants and the employed workforce in the water and energy sector are equipped with the knowledge necessary to participate in and help grow the economy.
Within this mandate, EWSETA is responsible for training plumbers and
water technicians under the Department of Water and Sanitation's War on Leaks programme. Rand Water is the implementing agent. The programme is now into its second phase, with an intake of 7 000 more students undergoing training. The final phase will have an intake of 5 000 students, leading to a total of
WAR ON LEAKS background
The programme is designed to train young people to curb water losses that are costing the country R7 billion a year as a result of leaking burst pipes, leaking taps, inaccurate meters and so forth.
Under the programme, 15 000 artisans and plumbers will be trained to fix leaking taps and pipes in their communities as part of promoting water conservation.
15 000 students who, if successful, will qualify as artisans capable of working in the water sector.
Infrastructure plumbers
During the Q&A session following Gradwell’s address, Tumelo Gopane, CEO of the East Rand Water Company,
The War on Leaks was launched on 28 August 2015 during an event held at Dan Qeqe Stadium, in Port Elizabeth, by President Jacob Zuma.
Errol Gradwell, CEO, EWSETA
Tumelo Gopane, CEO, East Rand Water Company
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commented, “As a country, we are not focusing on industrial plumbing. When we talk about plumbing, we are usually talking about taps and toilets. We are not talking about industrial plumbers who are trained academically. The industrial plumbers we have now received their training on the job. If you think of a large-diameter pipe, which can be as large as 6 m across, the plumbing involved is very different from household pipes. We need to focus more on improving skills in this area.”
Nick Joubert, training manager at the Institute of Plumbing South Africa (Iopsa), who was also present at the AGM, provided comment on this issue: “It’s important that we focus on training artisans in new, modern methods. We can no longer train plumbers to repair pipes using a hacksaw. New trenchless methods, such as sliplining and cured-in-place pipe are the future, and it will be important to bring sector expertise on these methods into the classroom.”
“Another way to ensure artisans are adequately prepared for working with infrastructure would be to bring the
The need to reuse wastewater as part of a circular economy is one of the many exciting new directions EWSETA will be exploring with water sector stakeholders in future
Department of Public Works, through its Working for Water programme, on board so that trainees experience, hands-on, how to work with large-diameter pipelines and appurtenant installations. Real-world experience such as this is essential for imparting the necessary skills so plumbers working for utilities are able to competently manage and repair water infrastructure.”
Encouraging entrepreneurs
In order to promote entrepreneurship among War on Leaks graduates for the purposes of job creation, EWSETA has partnered with Iopsa. Enabling graduates to open their own plumbing businesses independently or in partnership with others will also assist more trainees to find job placements at the end of the programme.
recruit-
ing, training, mentoring, coaching and capacitating about 12 000 small and micro enterprises throughout the country.
An estimated R600 million is to be invested into the project and EWSETA will approach more funders to participate in this initiative, as well as draw over more funders from the water sector in support of future skills development for the sector.
Other successes
“It will also assist 80% of Iopsa’s approximate 600 membership base who are one-man businesses to become more confident in expanding their companies,” said Gradwell.
Job creation
EWSETA also announced that it had facilitated the entry of 4 000 unemployed students – mainly the youth and people with disabilities – into learnerships, internships and skills programmes in the water and energy sector during the 2016/17 financial period.
“More than 1 400 of these unemployed learners completed their programmes and are now better equipped to find work. In addition, 400 of the more than 900 artisans who entered relevant learnership, internship and skills programmes completed their courses successfully,” said Gradwell.
R10 million was funded by EWSETA, and the Department of Small Business Development has committed to match this amount to kick-start the Rural and Township Economies Revitalisation Programme. The project is aimed at
In addition, EWSETA has entered into partnership with the Stellenbosch University Water Institute to develop a water superintendent occupational qualification with the intention of developing technical vocational education and training college lectures. “Initiatives like this build management capacity within the water sector and, so far, the project has been successful,” said Gradwell.
Although EWSETA did not secure the coveted clean audit, it did show improvement towards reaching this status in the 2018 financial year – one of the institution’s goals – by successfully maintaining its unqualified audit opinion and recording a 67% reduction in total financial findings.
CFO Mpho Mookapele said: “This reporting period's audit outcome is a clear demonstration of proper implementation of policies and procedures, and improved oversight by those charged with governance, ensuring the right mix of skills, training and development of staff.”
Future plans
Gradwell said EWSETA will intensify its stakeholder drive and collaboration with government departments involved in the water, energy and even waste
50.5% 36.6% 12.9%
of the 1.2 million student intake for 2006 did not write matric
did not receive a university exemption did not pass matric
Nick Joubert, training manager, Institute of Plumbing South Africa
9.3 million
South Africans are unemployed
growth forecast for SA GDP from 2017 –2022, International Monetary fund 1.7%
7%
SA GDP growth needed to reach National Development Plan 2030 goals
SETAs create skilled members of the South African workforce, able to support themselves and their families, and even uplift their communities through job creation
sectors in future. Additionally, EWSETA is improving its levy base, with some of the biggest results from this drive expected to make an impact on next year’s financial results.
“At the start of this financial year, I said we were going to target industry and employers for increased membership, transferring them to us to bolster our levy income. I can report to you now that revenue has already increased by 13%, to R287 million, compared to 2016’s R253 million,” said Gradwell.
This growth has been due to the increase from levies secured from EWSETA’s sector contributing authorities (SCA) in the water and energy sector, only 47% of which qualify to pay levies, as SCAs need to be companies over a certain size .
“We targeted 70 employers country-wide that are contributing to other SETAs in spite of the fact that EWSETA is more applicable to them. Thanks to the work of our team, we now have those 70 employers awaiting sign-off from SARS so that they can be transferred to us,” he added.
That means that levies from those 70 companies are going to be transferred to EWSETA, and one of those companies alone could contribute as much as R100 000.
“This will boost EWSETA’s processes, allowing it to expand, furthering economic growth through active education and training,” Gradwell concluded.
Keeping the Swartkops alive
Fighting this battle is the Gamtoos Irrigation Board, which is responsible for the management of alien vegetation in the Swartkops River system, among other provincial projects funded by the Department of Environmental Affairs.
According to area manager Andrew Knipe, steady progress is being made, as teams of workers clear and maintain the river and floodplain. Since 2011, the project has cleared more than 765 ha, with follow-up work completed on over 2 672 ha.
“Water hyacinths in particular need repeated follow-ups and will re-establish very quickly if we stop clearing operations,” explains Knipe, adding that the population in the lower reaches of the Swartkops River was the lowest it had been in years. “However, the problem is compounded by industrial and agricultural pollutants entering the river.”
This, Knipe warns, is not a problem that is going away any time soon, with pollution levels escalating. “One of the problems is that the capacity of the
Kelvin Jones water treatment works is too small to cope with the vast amount of sewage being fed into it. So, sewage is released into the river.”
When pollution levels are high, the water hyacinth population explodes, doubling every 14 days. If this gets out of control, water hyacinths can cover the entire river, absorbing all the oxygen from the water, killing fish and plant life.
The solution, in part, lies in clearing the river of these aquatic weeds, as well as the surrounding land of alien vegetation, including eucalyptus, sesbania species and Acacia saligna.
“One of the major challenges is that we’re treating the symptoms, not the cause,” says James Jansen, the project manager tasked with clearing the river on an annual budget of R1.5 million, with three teams of 12 members each.
According to Jansen, clearing alien vegetation from the river banks exposed the river to more sunlight, allowing for the faster breakdown of nutrients. It also increases the run-off, which means that more water gets into the rivers.
The battle for the Swartkops River has been raging for the last few years, as fish and plant populations come under threat from sewage and water hyacinths.
“In terms of the water hyacinth itself, there were stretches where the river was completely covered and we have managed to clear big patches. This is vitally important, as communities living close to the banks use the water directly. Also, Swartkops has been declared a national marine estuary, so it’s a critical part of the ecosystem for fish breeding.”
Educating the public about the environmental dangers posed by alien invasive plants remains an important aspect of the work that lies ahead, says Knipe. “We have the support of many land owners along the Swartkops River. With their assistance, we have been able to clear long stretches of river from Uitenhage. Fantastic work is also being done in the surrounding catchments of Sand/Bulk River and Van Stadens.
“The road ahead is a difficult one and, even though a lot of resources have been dedicated to the fight, more needs to be done if we are to rid our country of this scourge.”
Gamtoos Irrigation Board project manager James Jansen (middle) inspects the state of the Swartkops River with Working for Water contractors Thembinkosi Bless (left) and Dinilesizwe Jijana (Credit: Brian Witbooi)
Anew rotary lobe pump from Netzsch Pumps and Systems promises increased reliability, maintenance and performance, while reducing the total cost of ownership.
Self-priming and valve-less, the Tornado T2 is a positivedisplacement pump for intermittent, con-tinuous or metering applications of any kind of liquid, including media containing gas, solids or fibrous matter.
Unlike conventional rotary lobe pumps that use standard elastomer lobes, the Tornado T2 has two hardened steel lobes that rotate in a geometrically adapted elastomer insert. This bi-lobe rotor design creates a considerably longer sealing line, providing more wear padding. A specially developed pulsation-reduction system ensures minimal pulsation or shear forces.
The pump features an elastomer insert design that saves energy, reduces wear and increases overall service life. Vulcanised on to the edges of the lobes to create a permanent hard-soft contact between the lobes throughout the 360-degree rotation cycle, the inserts avoid high-wear contact. The elastomer
cage acts as a stator and is subject to less dynamic load and deformation than a traditional rotary lobe pump design, where thick elastomer packages on the lobes are in constant kneading contact.
The pump design also replaces complex timing gear with a robust synchronous toothed belt drive system. The drive greatly reduces the danger of transmission damage and also decreases required weight and installation space. Since the drive requires no lubrication, the chance of oil leaks is completely eliminated.
The Tornado T2 features the innovative and trademarked FSIP (Full Service in Place) design, which improves access for inspection, cleaning, service and replacing parts.
Replacing ageing pipelines
Specialised pipe laying companies are increasingly being called on to find ways of replacing old pipes buried under layers of infrastructure without disruptions.
One such company, Gokor Construction, has purchased a purpose-built HammerHead HG12 and HydroGuide pipe bursting system from local distributors and specialists ELB Equipment precisely to undertake this type of specialised pipe replacement work for Gauteng’s municipalities.
Gokor Construction is one of the few specialised pipe laying companies in the region that can undertake large-scale pipe replacements using pipe bursting technology. In this way, up to 170 m of pipeline can be replaced in two hours without digging trenches or interfering with above-ground or buried infrastructure.
“Throughout Gauteng, we have built our towns and suburbs over these buried pipelines and now it is mostly impossible to manually dig trenches and repair or replace pipes. As a result, a complete pipeline failure means that either the area gets dug up or the place floods in water or sewage. With our solution, that does not have to happen as we simply dig entry and exit pits, as well as inspection pits, and pull new pipes through without unsettling the ground,” says Jan Bouwer, owner, Gokor Construction.
In the three years that Gokor Construction has operated the HammerHead system, it has replaced thousands of metres of pipeline and provided services in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and a host of smaller municipalities, as well as in industrial sites and mines. Its latest deployment is to Hyde Park, where it is performing an urgent sewer upgrade for the replacement of 742 m of 250 mm pipe with new 350 mm HDPE pipes.
According to Phillip McCallum, product manager, ELB Equipment, the HammerHead solution is most suited to urban work and allows crews to work in confined and heavily built-up areas.
A strong foundation for infrastructure success
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Rolling out water
Only 44.4% of South Africans have piped water inside their dwelling, with most having to collect water from an outside source. Through its Water Science Division’s Women in Water programme, WISA has resolved to help address the water collection challenges women and children face, and has facilitated the donation of 23 Hippo Rollers.
While water issues can impact anyone, the greater burden is placed on women; the role of women in rural areas as the primary water collectors is well known. This activity limits the productive activity of women, excludes them from income-generating opportunities and,
Community garden representatives receive Hippo Rollers
WISA and Hippo Roller hand 11 water rollers over to World Vision
in some cases, even threatens their health and well-being. WISA’s Women in Water initiative aims to address these challenges and make a difference in the lives of women.
Women in Water
The WISA Water Science Division held its second annual Women in Water Conference in October 2017 under the theme ‘Making a splash’. Ayesha Laher of WISA’s Water Science Division explains that the aim of this conference was to look outside of the traditional water sectors like water treatment and water science. Agricultural practices, which support food security but increase the demand for water, were identified as a focus area.
WISA decided to partner with Hippo Roller and asked conference attendees to sponsor Hippo Rollers to be passed on to needy recipients.
Uplifting food gardens
The Paper Manufacturers (Pamsa) and Recycling (Prasa) associations of South Africa met this call and donated 10 Hippo Rollers to Food and Trees for Africa (FTFA), a social enterprise that addresses the issues of food security and environmental sustainability. Hippo Roller donated an additional water roller to FTFA.
One of these was handed over to the Modimo Oteng Cooperative in Marlboro Gardens, where a small group of six people, five women and one man, grow
vegetables on a plot of land that was formerly a dump site. The produce is sold for a small profit at a market in Sandton, while some is donated to a nearby old age home.
Another of these rollers was donated to the Alexandra Greening route, established by Paul Maluleke as a community tourism project under the Ecotourism Initiative and Department of Environmental Affairs. The project encourages members of the community to grow their own food to sustain themselves and earn an income.
Maluleke said he would like see more young people getting involved in these initiatives in order to pass down indigenous knowledge to future generations.
The third food garden to receive a roller, donated by Hippo Roller, was the Molobanyane Cooperative in Alexandra, run by Violet Phala Mabaso, or Mam Vi as she is known in the community. Mam Vi grows mainly herbs on a section of land shared by several cooperatives. She has grown her garden to supply produce to locals, markets and some restaurants, and has even built her own drying room where she dries and pickles various produce. Mam Vi says she earns enough selling her produce to cover her living costs and pay the people who work for her. She will use her Hippo Roller to store water for her saplings when the water is off – something she says is a fairly regular occurrence. FTFA will identify recipients for the remaining Hippo Rollers.
HIPPO ROLLERS
The Hippo Water Roller Project was established in 1994 in response to the water access challenges faced by rural women and children across Africa.
The South African invention is now in use in more than 25 countries, and makes it easier to collect water in tough rural conditions.
The Hippo Roller holds up to five times more water than a single bucket (90 ℓ) and is simple and easy to use. Grant Gibbs, executive director, Hippo Roller, highlights some of the key design elements that make the product tough and user-friendly:
1
The clip-on handle allows for the Hippo Roller to be easily pushed or pulled
2
A large opening allows for easy access for cleaning, but is small enough to prevent small children from falling into the drum
3
A small, recessed cap-in-cap, the size of a standard soda bottle cap – making it easily replaceable – allows for easy water pouring without contaminating the contents and facilitates simple irrigation of food gardens
4 A rounded bottom edge with a stable base allows the drum to be easily rolled upright
5
The typical lifespan of the Hippo Roller is five to seven years, and often much longer
World Vision
Aqua Resources generously donated 10 Hippo Rollers to WISA’s recipient of choice, World Vision. Hippo Roller donated an additional roller to the organisation. World Vision will donate these rollers to needy community members through its WASH programme, which aims to increase access to safe and sustainable water supply, as well as sanitation and hygiene practices for poor, vulnerable communities and children.
According to Bheki Khanye, World Vision’s interim national director for South Africa, these 11 Hippo Rollers will contribute to changing the lives of about 55 children. “Thank you to everyone involved in making this happen. We hope this marks the first step in a relationship we will continue to enjoy,” said Khanye.
Mam Vi in her garden in Alexandra
WISA 2018
Date: 24 to 27 June 2018
Venue: CTICC, Cape Town
Contact: Jaco Seaman, events@wisa.org.za
Every second year, the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) holds its national conference for all water sector players in the region. The theme for the 2018 biennial conference, ‘Breaking Boundaries – Connecting Ideas’, seeks to address water resource challenges by promoting closer collaboration between all players in the water sector. The conference will include presentations and workshops in the following key areas:
• Sink or swim: preparing our cities for the future
• Uncharted waters: developing solutions through science and technology
• Waste not, want not: optimising processes for treatment and reclamation
• Under the microscope: how do we join the dots?
• Bridging the gap: sustainable finance for improved delivery
• Pooling together: enabling participation through good governance.
Serving both the public and private sectors, ERWAT promotes a healthy environment by providing cost-effective wastewater treatment solutions through innovative technologies. It specialises in sustainable, quality wastewater services, backed by focused technical, maintenance and engineering services. An ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory renders a wide variety of specialised analyses, while industrial wastewater quality management assessments and advice are also offered.
East Rand Water Reg. No. 1992/005753/08
(Association incorporated in terms of section 21) GPS Co-ordinates:
Address: Hartebeestfontein Office Park, R25, Bapsfontein/Bronkhorstspruit, Kempton Park.
