WATER CUTS ‘INEVITABLE’ – SOL
WHILE the city’s water situation remains in a precarious state and repairs are under way, Sol Plaatje Municipality has advised that water interruptions are “inevitable”.
Bigen Africa project engineer Rikus Rossouw estimated that emergency repair work would improve the water supply within the next 18 months.
“Once emergency repairs are completed, the daily and nightly water interruptions will come to an end,” said Rossouw.
He explained that a gasket in Midlands, which could burst at any moment, needed to be urgently replaced.
“It will take at least three days to replace it during a planned shutdown. If it bursts before then, it will result in an emergency shutdown where the whole town will be without water for a couple of days.”
Rossouw said that three contractors were working at the Riverton purification plant.
“Isiphethu Peaches joint venture has been repairing burst pipes without having to shut down the town’s water supply since February 19. However, some leaks are so large that they can only be fixed during a water shutdown. A total of 25 leaks have been identified along the main pipeline between Riverton and Kimberley.”
He attributed the low water levels at the reservoir to a lack of maintenance and mechanical and technical challenges.
“Without the necessary capacity, not enough water is reaching Kimberley. We are pumping about 120 mega litres from the river for purification while 80 mega litres is fed into the reservoir where daily consumption equals to about 80 mega litres.”
Rossouw indicated that only two of the four clarifiers were in operation at the old plant, while only six out of the 12 filters and three out of six pumps were working.
“We are waiting for isolation valves to fix leaks on the old plants and require another transformer to enable all four high-lift pumps to work so that water can
be pumped to Newton Reservoir. The current transformer does not have the capacity to power up all the high-lift pumps.”
He added that they were in the process of upgrading the old purification plant over a 10-month period, so that they can start work on the new water purification plant.
“The new plant is over 40 years old and requires mechanical and technical attention. It also needs to be automated as everything is still being operated manually.”
Rossouw stated that while the water appeared to be off-colour, it was within the acceptable norms for human consumption.
“The water is tested on a regular basis and any bacteria can be eliminated by boiling the water. Sediment enters the pipeline during regular shutdowns as well as the filters that are not running at full capacity,” he explained.
Sol Plaatje municipal manager Thapelo Matlala said that 35 projects were being undertaken through the R2.5 billion grant to address critical maintenance on
bulk water supply infrastructure over the next seven years.
“Work has commenced on three contracts with a total construction value of R88.2 million. R18 million is being spent on emergency leak repairs, a R40 million contract was awarded for the new water treatment plant chlorine
chemical dosing system and R28 million has been allocated on an emergency flow and quality monitoring system,” said Matlala.
He added that a further two projects would be awarded by March 15, while three other tenders would be advertised for maintenance interventions to improve water supply production and reduce supply interruptions.
“While these construction works are being carried out, residents are reminded that the interruption of supply is inevitable. These interruptions will vary in duration and frequency and will be communicated formally to all consumers. As the interruptions will be well-planned, the duration and frequency will be minimised at all costs.”
Matlala stated that they were in the process of putting two dysfunctional clarifiers back into operation at the old treatment plant.
“Commissioning of this clarifier will be completed on March 8. The second clarifier is being cleaned and the valves have been repaired. Both these will improve water production by 15 mega litres per day.
“Filter media has been replaced on two filter bays at the new treatment plant to improve the filtration process and overall water production capacity.”
He added that the Bigen Africa team and Ekapa Mining, which had committed funding of R10 million towards efforts to address the water challenges, were providing support to the municipality.
“We do not take residents’ patience for granted. Our efforts are purely aimed at improving water service delivery and ultimately attaining an uninterrupted and quality supply,” Matlala concluded.