Featured
Solving environmental law confusion: Lawyer Lizette van der Walt launches innovative app
Lizette van der Walt is a lawyer specialising in environmental law. In her 27 years of experience, she noticed a general confusion around environmental laws in South Africa and decided to help by creating the Enviro Legal app. This app is designed to help users...
Featured
Turning The Tide To Achieve SDG 6
Coming off the back of the WISA 2024 Biennial Conference and Exhibition, we can all agree that accelerated change is needed in achieving SDG 6 by 2030. As we celebrate 30 years of democracy this year and honour women during the month of August, it is fitting that we...
Featured
[Industry Personality] Carin Bosman: Make noise and have a code
The water sector is filled with passionate people, Carin Bosman is one such passionate person, and she serves to remind us of all that water is for the betterment of humanity, and when you are tasked with doing what is right, you have to make some noise. Early on in...
Featured
[Cover Story] 40 years strong: Lethabo Intake Pumping Station’s historic refurbishment
A part of Rand Water’s proactive infrastructure maintenance project comprised the refurbishment of pumps and electrical boards at the Lethabo Intake Pumping Station. This key facility pumps water to ESKOM Lethabo Power Station and supplies over half of Gauteng via the...
Ominous signs from hunger stones
Wenn du mich siehst, dann weine(if you see me, then weep) – is the message that was carved into stones that were embedded into a river during droughts between the 16th and 19th centuries in Germany and in ethnic German settlements throughout...
Ditching Day Zero
Recent rains within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) as well as water loss programmes and water restrictions have pushed back day zero, with the average level of supply dams at 19%. However, NMBM’s water supply is still constrained. Lyle...
When in doubt, use a filter
The 2022 Blue Drop Progress Report measures all aspects related to the provision of safe water. Released by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), the Report revealed that 34% of water systems reside in the high and critical risk categories....
24 months to go: if not reset, prepaid meters will stop working
Unless updated and reset, prepaid meters (electricity, water and gas) will not accept new prepaid credit tokens after the 24th November 2024. By Kirsten Kelly “In laymen’s terms; current pre-paid metering software that is used by utilities around...
Cape treatment works leads with energy efficiency gains
The City of Cape Town’s Bellville Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) is the first South African municipal wastewater facility to meet the requirements for SANS/ISO 50001: Energy management system certification by the South African Bureau of...
Metros, where are your digesters?
Loadshedding, rising energy costs, limited landfill space, and pressure to reduce carbon emissions should be enough reasons for municipalities to consider biogas. “While biogas alone will never solve the energy crisis, it can assist as a supplement...
Sustainability
Gauteng to spend R1.2 billion towards resolving energy crisis
The Gauteng Provincial Government is set to release R1.2 billion towards resolving the energy crisis in the province. “In a few weeks, we will appoint six developers who will commence the construction of an 800 megawatts solar farm in...
SA’s plastics industry releases latest production and recycling stats
South Africa’s plastics manufacturing and recycling industries grew by 4.7% last year, indicating a welcome recovery from the devastation caused by the Covid pandemic. Plastics SA Executive Director Anton Hanekom announced the latest...
[OPINION PIECE] The secret to delivering sustainable energy
As more companies move towards reducing their carbon emissions and accomplishing net zero targets, embracing emerging power sources becomes key. By Frikkie Malan, head of sustainability at Remote Metering Solutions For instance, solar and wind...
Reclaimers have a role to play in the shift to a circular economy
It is estimated that over 90 000 reclaimers work in South Africa’s informal waste economy, and they have a significant role to play in the move towards a circular economy.This is according to a new WWF report titled “Mainstreaming the informal...
Joint venture to build green battery recycling facilities in SA
Local investment firm Tabono Investments has signed a partnership agreement with battery recycling platform ACE Green Recycling to build two environmentally sustainable battery recycling facilities in South Africa. Through this joint venture, the...
Plastics agreement can accelerate circularity and eliminate waste
Members of the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) joined delegates in Punta Del Este, Uruguay late last year for the first meeting of the International Negotiation Committee (INC-1) which is charged with creating a global...
Events
Industry News
Key trends in the economy affecting local construction industry
The outlook for the South African construction industry remains subdued in the short to medium term as the sector continues to be affected by a lack of implementation of government’s infrastructure delivery plan, as well as the country’s poor...
Government must address individual infrastructure needs – says GIC
Some of governments’ top responsibilities are to provide people with access to fresh, drinkable water, and to basic infrastructure such as sanitation, roads, and housing. With this in mind, the construction industry hopes to see government release...
Green sector investment needed for sector growth
Energy is key to the growth and prosperity of any modern economy, but it is estimated that nearly one billion Africans lack access to clean, sustainable energy. The shortage of electricity in many African countries is approximately equivalent to 1%...
Water
Metro News
Another KZN farmer taken to task for constructing an illegal dam for farming business
The Department of Water and Sanitation continues to tighten its firm hand on illegal water use. Another Estcourt farmer in KwaZulu-Natal was made to pay a whopping R1.5 million administrative fee for conducting illegal and unauthorised water use...
Pioneering wastewater technology trialled by eThekwini municipality
Traditional aeration technology has low oxygen transfer efficiency (between 10% and 15%) and high energy consumption (approximately 50% of the overall operating expenditure of the plant). Fluence Corporation MABR (membrane aerated biofilm reactor)...
Communities with critical water shortages to be prioritised in North West interventions
The North West Provincial Steering Committee led by the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, has received an assessment report on the state of water and sanitation service provision in the province and has instructed the Committee’s...
Waste
Engineering
SANRAL clarifies position on award of major tenders
The South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) has sought to explain the process followed with the recent awarding of major tenders. This comes after public outcry over the Sanral board announcing it had awarded four tenders worth more...
Redefining Road Safety Engineering in South Africa
We all know someone who has either lost their life or suffered a life-changing injury due to a road traffic accident. And yet when we step back and think about it, we realise that every accident is indeed preventable, writes Verushka Balaram, Head:...
SAICE questions the awarding of SANRAL tenders to foreign companies
The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) is deeply concerned by the recent awarding of tenders by the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) to joint ventures led by foreign companies. Four of the five tenders, that were...
Technology
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Water & Sanitation Africa
The official magazine of the Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA), the magazine publishes content dealing with the supply, governance, financing, treatment and measurement of water and sanitation in southern Africa.