Multimillion waste water treatment facility 94% done  

 

The construction of the third waste water treatment module at Johannesburg Water’s Olifantsvlei Waste Water Treatment Works in southern Johannesburg is nearing completion, according to Project Manager Russ Dodding.

 

Designed to cater for present and future increase in capacity and to reduce chances of contaminated water spilling into rivers, the R166,8 million module will consist of an activated sludge reactor, as well as mixers and aerators, internal A and B recycle pumps, a flow divider, three clarifiers, a pump station, three electrical rooms, a monitoring building, inter-connecting pipework, paved roads, storm water drains and cable trenches.

 

The Olifantsvlei Waste Water Treatment Works treats sewage from three areas – western Soweto, southern and southeastern Johannesburg and Lenasia.

The new 50 megalitres a day (Ml/d) module will take the treatment capacity for the three areas up from the present 180Ml/d to 230Ml/d.

 

The project to construct the model started in October 2010 and was scheduled to be completed in August this year. The deadline was missed for a variety of reasons. However, the project is now 94% complete, according to Dodding.

He says the main objective of constructing the module was to provide first-class waste water treatment works.

 

“The Unit 3 Module is based on a well-established and optimised treatment process,” Dodding explains.

He says the new module will increase the number of households to be catered for by the works by about 50 000. The project created 149 job opportunities and work for 14 SMMEs.

 

The Olifantsvlei Waste Water Treatment Works is one of six such facilities managed by Johannesburg Water.

Through them, the municipal-owned entity treats all domestic sewage and industrial effluents released into sewers. Between them, they treat 930 million litres of sewage daily.

 

Dodding says these facilities are intensively monitored to check the quality of incoming waste water, process performance efficiency and quality of final effluents and by-products.

Since 2002, Johannesburg Water has efficiently disposed of sludge, decreasing the amount of pollution entering the city’s rivers and keeping the environment clean as per guidelines set by the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture.