Siza’s recycled water plan
Residents vote in favour of recycled water and against the prospect of dried-up taps.
The overwhelming majority of Dolphin Coast residents have voted to have recycled water, rather than face the alternative of dry taps.
Sembcorp Siza Water (SSW) will supply about four million litres of recycled water into our taps per day once the expanded facility is in full operation.
In a recent survey, 96 percent of about 3 000 SSW customers voted yes to this potential life-saver. SSW is now in the process of expanding their existing recycling facility, which currently is capable of supplying 500 000 to 750 000 litres a day, to a four million litres per day facility.
SSW managing director, Shyam Misra said SSW are also looking into transferring water to the plant from some of the local streams and they are drilling additional bore holes to add into the system.
They are busy installing restrictor valves, which hopefully will eliminate the need for water cuts. However, Misra said the water usage statistics will determine if water shutdowns will continue.
“As an international company, we want to ensure that the water is safe for our customers,” said Misra.
He said there was very little industrial effluent (containing heavy metals) going into the recycling facility, which makes the purification easier. Heavy metals like mercury, cadium, arsenic, chromium, thallium and lead are very difficult to treat.
Technicians are conducting water quality tests every hour to ensure recycled water is safe to drink and SSW say they are working seven days a week for up to 12 hours a day to keep the water flowing.
Misra said it seemed unlikely that customers would have to collect water from strategic points when the Hazelmere Dam dries up. Misra said they preferred to supply recycled water directly to customers through the water system rather than set up collection points over which they would have less control.
The dam level dropped to 27 percent on Monday, July 6, but Misra said the good news was that as a result of the water restrictions, the drop rate decreased from one percent every four days to one percent every seven days. The 50 percent reduction has brought the area’s water demand down to six million litres per day and the dam should now last about another eight to 13 weeks – depending on the level at which the water becomes too muddy.
“Water is a precious and scarce resourse,” said Misra.
He addressed the question of water wastage at communal stand pipes in rural areas, saying that people in those areas used less than 3 000 litres of water per household per day and that the 40 000 people living in Shayamoya, Shaka’s Head, Nkobongo and Etete combined, used less water per month than Zimbali alone.
