Status updates on water, sewerage in Ndlambe

Talk of the Town asked the municipality’s infrastructure director Dr Noluthando Vithi to provide feedback on some of the authoritys’ key projects

The 2.6ML elevated concrete reservoir next to the Titi Jonas Hall will have treated water pumped into it that will be gravity-fed to Nemato and Thornhill.

Funding for the tower included R57m from the Office of the Premier’s Small Town Revitalisation Grant in the 2018/19 financial year.

The project was due to be completed in March 2022, but work on it stopped when the previous contractor, Mamlambo Civils, went into liquidation in mid-2022.

Last week, this project was handed over to the new contractor, LRC Civils.

When the project was put on hold in 2022, it was said to be 80% complete and would take about three months to finish.

Vithi said work still to be completed included sealing the inside of the reservoir, and outside scaffolding. Providing there were no unexpected problems, the Thornhill tower and pump construction could be complete by July this year.

Sewerage infrastructure upgrade, Port Alfred (‘Warf Street project’)

Frequent sewage spills due to sewerage pump stations being temporarily inoperational: While caused by load-shedding at times, the biggest problem had been vandalism by metal thieves.

“Three pump stations have been repaired many times, only to be vandalised again,” Vithi told TOTT.

These sewerage system failures, along with drought conditions (less flushing) had in turn affected the viability of the QFS 5ML waste- and seawater reclamation plant: it was designed to process 3ML of waste water from the sewerage works, and 2ML of seawater to form a significant part of the water supply for a growing Port Alfred.

The solution:

Eliminating the frequently failing pump stations by gravityfeeding sewage to a new sewage pump station next to the Nuwater reverse osmosis (RO) plant.

This single pump station will then pump sewage directly to the Port Alfred Waste Water

Treatment Works (thus also unlocking the reclamation plant).

Having the critical infrastructure and back-up generator in one location will make it easier to secure.

Delays:

The project was delayed because the contractor was not up to the task, and SMMEs appointed, as per the municipality’s mandate, had not responded to mentorship and guidance.

In a recent council meeting, municipal manager Rolly Dumezweni said the contractor now on the job was the best in the province.

Further delays were the result of the terrain: an environmentally sensitive and unstable wetland, unpredictable water ingress (because it’ sa wetland), plus rain had further delayed progress.

Current status:

The concrete works are close to completion. There has been a lot of progress since the new contractor started.

“The sewerage line will run behind the Wharf Street