Sea Harvest to desalinate its own water to secure jobs
SEA Harvest’s multimillion-rand desalination plant in Saldanha Bay will help secure the jobs of workers by ensuring uninterrupted operations in the event of Day Zero.
The Sea Harvest group announced the completion of its desalination plant yesterday, which was timed perfectly as the day marked World Water Day.
The investment, which includes desalination and reverse osmosis, should ensure that the group can continue to operate and honour its commitment to delivering against stakeholder expectations.
In an effort to alleviate the pressure on the Western Cape’s precious resource, Sea Harvest has reduced its fresh water consumption by 35% since the province was declared a drought-stricken region in 2016.
Said Terence Brown, operations director at Sea Harvest, the plant will have the capacity to supply the company’s operations at its Saldanha Bay plant with all the water needed.
Brown said Sea Harvest had invested R17 million in the plant at Saldanha Bay, where eight jobs were created and which would help save 1 800 direct jobs
“The most important deliverable of the plant is 1.15 megalitres (million litres) of potable water per day. This will ensure that there is no disruption within our business should we reach Day Zero.
“In this way we can remain sustainable and profitable, but most importantly, protect jobs. Sea Harvest is the single largest employer within the Saldanha Bay Municipality (SBM),” said Brown.
He added that anything that negatively affected the group’s ability to operate would have dire consequences on the communities in and around which it operated.
“As a responsible corporate citizen, we have to do our best to prevent this from happening.”
Brown said the quality of the water produced by the plant would meet the drinking water specification of the SA National Standard (SANS 241), which lays down the minimum requirements for potable water to be considered safe for human consumption.
“The plant is designed in such a way that the quality of the water will be monitored continuously. In addition, the SBM will provide further quality assurance by testing the water to ensure compliance with the required standard.”
Meanwhile, Wesgro, Cape Town and the Western Cape’s official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency honoured the efforts of the people and businesses of the city and the province in reducing water consumption as the world celebrated World Water Day yesterday.
By reducing water consumption by nearly 60% in just three years, Cape Town and the Western Cape is successfully establishing itself as a water-resilient destination, globally leading the way in responsible water consumption, not as a one-off event, but an ongoing process.