CAER Committee checks pH levels

Members of the Modderfontein Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) Committee recently visited the liming station at the Modderfontein Industrial Complex.

They were shown aspects of the complex’s effluent water treatment process.

African Explosives Limited (AEL) staff explained how effluent water is channelled through the liming station.

This is where a new automated monitoring system checks the potential of Hydrogen (pH) of the water.

It automatically adds lime if the pH is too low in order to counteract the acidity of the water and render it suitable for release into the complex’s sewer system.

“A pH value is a number from one to 14, with seven as the middle (neutral) point,” said CAER Committee chairman, Mr Robbie Vermont.

“Values below seven indicate acidity, which increases as the number decreases, one being the most acidic,” he said.

In addition, a range of tests is carried out along the Modder Spruit on a continuous basis to ensure that the water quality matches up to parameters laid down in legislation and required by the Department of Water Affairs.

“CAER committees exist worldwide and are drawn from members of the public residing in close proximity to factories using or producing potentially hazardous chemicals,” said Mr Vermont.

“This initiative was first implemented in Canada as a result of several incidents, including the notorious Bhopal disaster in 1984, when a leak of methyl isocyanate gas from the Union Carbide factory in India led to the deaths of an estimated 16 000 people living in the surrounding communities,” he said.