The uMkhanyakude District Municipality in KwaZulu Natal has been plagued by water shortages as a result of a growing population. However the municipality, with the help of a leading water technology company, have come up with a sustainable solution.

Veolia Water Technologies South Africa was contracted by the municipality to design and build the new Shemula Water Treatment Plant to address the severe water shortages in uMkhanyakude and surrounding districts.

The project is part of the new Ingwavuma Bulk Water Jozini Scheme – a Department of Water and Sanitation’s key priority.

Deemed a presidential project, the initiative will also entail Veolia educating surrounding communities about the importance of water, as well as employ local community members during construction and to maintain the Shemula Water Treatment Plant.

The new water treatment plant will be capable of producing 20 megalitres of potable water a day and addresses all facets of water treatment, from sedimentation and clarification to filtration and disinfection.

“The water extracted from the Pongola River is highly turbid – with an extreme turbidity count of 280 NTU. We were required, therefore, to implement an adequate sedimentation process that will produce consistent quality water with acceptable turbidity levels that will meet SANS 241 standards,” says Blake Cooley, Project Engineer, Veolia Water Technologies South Africa.

The process will reduce the turbidity level to a count of just 1NTU with the use of two Veolia clarifloctuators for the sedimentation process, followed by five bed rapid gravity filters with monolithic floor panels for the filtration stage.

Phase 1A was undertaken by Veolia’s civil works partner Icon Construction. Phase 1A and 1B was complete by April 2015 with running water delivered to the surrounding communities.

Phase 2, commencing in 2017, will see the plant expand to 40 megalitres per day. Veolia has designed the plant with scalability to accommodate this future growth.