The City of Cape Town’s mayoral committee is set to embark on a multi-year project to more than double the current capacity of the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The project, which will take place over the next six years, will improve the plant’s capacity to treat wastewater, as well as disinfect and treat sludge, among other things. The plant’s current treatment capacity of 47 million litres per day will be expanded by 53 million litres to take it to a total of 100 million litres per day.
Tenders in the pipeline
Xanthea Limberg, the City’s MMC for Informal Settlements, Water and Waste Services; and Energy, says a R350 million tender for the engineering designs has already been awarded and is currently going through a public participation process as the project will go beyond three financial years. “Further tenders to complete the major capital infrastructure projects will be issued in later years and will cost an estimated R800 million,” she adds.
Diversifying water resources
The project forms part of the City’s drive to diversify its water resources to cater for growing demand as well as to reduce reliance on rainwater. “Treated water will become increasingly important as the City moves toward becoming a more water-sensitive city,” Limberg explains. This will be the third capacity upgrade that the City has undertaken for this plant, with previous work having been done in 1997 and 2008.
Safeguarding public health
“This is an incredibly important project that will ensure that the quality of water flowing out of the plant and into the environment is not degraded as a result of the growing volumes it needs to process. “Expanding this facility is necessary in the interest of safeguarding public health and the environment, but will also support the growth and functions of certain economic sectors such as industry, agriculture, fisheries, and tourism among others,” Limberg says. She adds that the City is also planning to upgrade capacity of its Zandvliet plant in the Macassar area in response to the rapid population growth.
