THE Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) has embarked on a comprehensive R28 million upgrade of its East Bank Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW), aiming to transform the facility into a flagship model for energy-efficient wastewater management. The project, initiated in July 2024, is scheduled for completion in July 2026, according to the municipality.
Water reuse
The refurbished facility will incorporate and pilot cutting-edge technologies for water reuse and energy recovery. Key advanced systems include a Membrane Biological Reactor (MBR) system, as well as ultra sand filtration and biogas-to-energy processes.
On completion, the upgraded plant will be capable of treating sewage to a standard suitable for industrial and agricultural use with the potential to further improve the effluent to potable water standards.
“Integrating wastewater treatment works’ output back into the whole water system recognises the cyclical nature of water supply,” says GIBB technical executive, Wiero Vogelzang, who specialises in water projects at the engineering consultancy. This is in line with GIBB’s philosophy that water reuse is here to stay and is focussed on this approach.
“Consumers tend to think of wastewater and ‘raw’ water as two separate systems, whereas there is only a single water cycle and a circular water economy. To some extent, rivers act as a natural water treatment works, as a result of encountering natural barriers that enhance rapids-induced aeration. Thus, reuse by treating sewage to reach potable quality is a must in a water scarce country. We have no option but to reuse water,” he says.
International partnership
The East Bank WWT project is underpinned by a sister city partnership with Oldenburg, Germany. This collaboration is designed to bolster BCMM’s water utility operations through crucial knowledge exchange, training and technical cooperation.
Executive Mayor Princess Faku underscored the strategic importance of the international agreement, stating, “Our municipal climate change partnership agreement is a game changer in building sustainable development.”
On a site visit to the project, Daniela Behrens, the Minister of Interior and Sports for Lower Saxony Province, part of the German delegation, lauded the upgrade as “a pioneering effort demonstrating how municipalities can leverage renewable energy for sustainable, cost-effective wastewater treatment while contributing to global climate action.”
Commercial water reuse
With municipal water supply in many areas of the Eastern Cape under severe stress, some commercial users have opted to invest in their own water treatment plants.
Sovereign Foods in Kariega, for example, invested R84 million in an on-site wastewater treatment plant which recovers at least 70% of its water used each day back to potable quality.
Whether this level of investment and high-yielding reuse is within the reach of municipalities remains to be seen, but Vogelzang says examples of municipalities successfully treating water for reuse has been happening for years.
He cites an example in which treated wastewater was supplied directly to an industrial user in the south of Durban. “Depending on what the water-user’s requirements are, this is a very workable solution. We don’t need to treat water back to a potable quality if it is going to be used in applications where an expensive step in the final treatment process can be excluded. The economics need to work for it to be a win-win,” he says.
Operations and maintenance
A major challenge for public sector water supply lies in ongoing maintenance and operation services at the wastewater treatment plants.
Private sector operators have solved this by creating a new service model, for example, Talbot Water customised a technical and financial package for Sovereign Foods’ Kariega treatment works. Talbot’s director of project finance and consulting, Mike Smith, explained when the plant was commissioned last year that the project is a hybrid solution. “The water recovery plant is based on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) model and the client buys the water from us based on an agreed R/kl fee.”
The client is guaranteed the vested interest from the owner of the plant who built it and operates it. Talbot manages a local O&M team responsible for the daily operation of the plant. If the plant performs more efficiently than projected, it impacts Talbot’s bottom line, creating a self-regulating mechanism.
Vogelzang says he is seeing a new trend emerging in the public sector to overcome a lack of budget for operations and maintenance. “In the new Public-Public-Private Partnership (PPPP) model, by way of an example, a large water utility can use its financial muscle to partner with a smaller local government entity to form a Special Purpose Vehicle. This entity then partners with private companies to manage the operation and maintenance aspects of the infrastructure and revenue collection services that keep water flowing.”
Theft and vandalism
The BCMM says theft and vandalism is a major problem at several wastewater treatment works and pump stations have been operating below capacity, where some are completely non-operational due to vandalism.
According to the Metro, “only a few plants in the East London and Mdantsane areas are operating at full capacity”. But it says efforts are underway to restore and upgrade facilities. In addition to the East Bank project, refurbishments are also planned for the Potsdam and Mdantsane wastewater treatment plants.
Energy efficiency
At the East Bank project, the extensive two-phase initiative will not only upgrade the plant’s core infrastructure and expand its wastewater treatment capacity but also integrate a 100 kW solar energy system.
Vogelzang says that solar is only part of the solution for energy-efficient water treatment. “Wastewater treatment plants demand a lot of energy, but solar is only available when the sun shines, so batteries are required, which drives costs up. Solar is definitely useful for ‘service’ demands, like lighting and computers.”
Although Vogelzang concedes that enormous amounts of money are required to upgrade water services plants around the country, the problems are not insurmountable. “It’s possible to meet the existing challenges of operating and maintenance budgets, technical staff and secure protection of assets. There is no reason why it cannot work properly,” he says.
