VEOLIA Water Technologies South Africa recently supplied three Potable Water Treatment Plants (PWTP) to Mpumalanga’s capital city, Mbombela.
“Our Water Techno Packages are fast becoming very popular water treatment solutions across South Africa,” said Nishaal Rooplall, a Project Engineer for the company. “Not only are these compact solutions a cost-effective alternative to in-ground plants, but their ‘plug-and-play’ and low maintenance functionality makes them ideal for remote locations. Furthermore, these plants are packaged and movable by nature and can be transported elsewhere if the city’s water requirements change.”
He added that their Water Techno Packages are specifically designed to supply treated water to isolated communities and in compliance with SANS 241 and WHO requirements.
In the first project Veolia installed a packaged PTWP to the Makoko Village; a remote village situated 30 minutes from the city that does not have enough potable water for its community’s needs. The plant is equipped with clarification and sand filter technologies to treat 0.75 megalitres of potable water per day.
The second project saw Veolia upgrading the existing Water Treatment Plant at the Mshadza Village, another remote village outside the city of Mbombela. The existing 30-year old Water Treatment Plant utilised older technologies that made it unable to meet the village’s growing potable water demands.
In this installation, raw water was diverted from the old plant to Veolia’s new packaged PTWP where it used clarification, sand filtration and carbon filtration technologies to treat one megalitre of potable water per day.
Similar to the Mshadza installation, albeit on a smaller scale, Mbombela’s White River Country Estate had an existing water treatment plant that was unable to meet growing demands due to its older systems and technologies. Veolia supplied a containerised water treatment plant that will treat 58 m3 / hr of potable water for the Estate.
It features clarification, sand filtration and carbon filtration technologies – all packaged into two containers next to the old plant.
According to Rooplall, Veolia’s Water Techno Packages are designed for ease of service and maintenance, which translates to fewer challenges for plant managers. Supplied since 2005 initially as made-to-order, customised plants, Veolia now supplies these plants as standard, off-the-shelf solution.
“The benefit is even greater fabrication speed, with complete Factory Acceptance Tested plants being produced in 10 to 12 weeks according to ISO 9001 quality standards from our Johannesburg-based production facility.”
The Mbombela water treatment plants are operated locally and Veolia remained on site to provide operator and best-practice training for all three installations.
“This training is of vital importance to Veolia. It not only allows us to educate the community on best-practice water handling but, with proper maintenance and operation, these plants should provide a consistent supply of potable water for the next 20 years,” Rooplall said.