Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu has hailed Rand Waterfor completing phase 1 of one of its flagship projects, the 150 megalitre a day (ml/d) Station 5A filtration plant, on schedule.

According to Mchunu, the infrastructure brings assurance to sustainability of water supply to the Gauteng province and surroundings. Mchunu and Deputy Minister David Mahlobo joined by the Emfuleni Mayor, Sipho Radebe, Chairperson as well as the Chief Executive of Rand Water respectively, Ramateu Monyokolo and Sipho Mosai on Thursday, 31 August 2023, commissioned the first part of a mega water project situated at the Zuikerbotch Water Treatment Works outside Vereeniging, in the Vaal.

“There is a great need to increase the capacity infrastructure and to ensure that operation and maintenance is undertaken to existing infrastructure, and Rand Water is doing exactly that,” Mchunu said. He further commended Rand Water in its forward thinking. “Whether be it in terms of actual water supply or the maintenance of water and sanitation infrastructure – Rand Water has continued to ensure that it keeps its eye on the mandate. Those of you doubting our commitment as DWS to infrastructure development, forget it, we ahead of the curve, it is not a matter of when, but rather where are we today,” added Mchunu.

In efforts to augment water supply, ensure sustainable water supply and to meet current and future demands, Rand Water built a completely new purification plant referred to as Station 5, at the existing Zuikerbosch Plant.

Station 5 plant details

The Station 5 plant is divided two phases (5A & 5B) and the completed phase 1 will produce 150 ml/d of potable water adding to the current available supply by Rand Water to its customers which are Gauteng municipalities, parts of Free State, Mpumalanga and North West provinces as well as industries.

Upon completion of Phase 2 (Station 5B) at the end of 2024, the plant will add another 450 ml/d, totalling to 600ml/d of water to the users. The purification plant is part of the Rand Water’s capital expenditure projects and seeks to bring more capacity to water utility’s system to ensure water security to the provinces it supplies.

The Minister emphasised on the need for new water infrastructure to address current and future demand of water in the province. He remarked that the commissioning of Station 5A was demonstrative of the Department’s seriousness about increasing infrastructure capacity.

Minister Mchunu further said while the mandate of the sector was to ensure access to clean, drinking water and to manage water resources, however, he said, “one cannot have to access to water without the proper infrastructure.”

Since 2019, the Station 5A project has created 871 job opportunities, providing employment to individuals with diverse skill levels, ranging from unskilled to semi-skilled and skilled labourers and supported more than 48 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) with small work packages from the core activities of the 26 projects.

Meeting the needs of communities and businesses  

Rand Water Board Chairperson, Ramateu Monyokolo said the new infrastructure reinforced the organisation’s a long-standing commitment to working with its customers to enable them to meet the needs of our communities and business.

“We want to confirm that this project is part of our vision 2030 infrastructure build programme and that we are well within our timelines and in some instances ahead of our time. To that extend this additional 150 million litres a day Station 5A programme ensures that there is more than enough water for all our customers and therefore consumers.

“As a Board, we have a full and comprehensive understanding of the importance of infrastructure upgrading and refurbishment to ensure uninterrupted bulk water supply to our customers. As we celebrate 120-year anniversary of our existence, we recognise and embrace inherent challenges which we continue to turn them into opportunities,” Monyokolo reiterated.

Monyokolo said some of the challenges faced by the water utility in the implementation of its CAPEX projects included population growth in its areas of supply, vandalism of its infrastructure, encroachment on servitude, quality of raw water and non-payment of invoices by customers amongst others.

Monyokolo further said the porous municipal water reticulation infrastructure also created a simulated shortage. “We are working hard to assist and collaborate with municipalities through the capable leadership of our Honourable Minister Mchunu, to mitigate this challenge.”

 Rand Water is the largest water utility in the African continent and supplies bulk potable water daily to 18 municipalities in the provinces of Gauteng, parts of Mpumalanga, Free State, and the Northwest, with over 16 million people in these areas of supply.

In February this year, the water utility launched a 210 megalitre a day Vlakfontein Reservoir in the City of Ekurhuleni. The reservoir is post-tensioned concrete, the biggest in the world and is part of the Mapleton Booster system augmentation programme.