Glencore serving as bulk water service provider

With most areas around the city experiencing water problems, various stakeholders are up in arms assisting the municipality to find a solution to the crisis.

Glencore is the newest company on the list. As a result Emalahleni Local Municipality as a Water Service Provider and Water Services Authority according to Water Service Act no. 108 of 1997 has partnered with Glencore in the development of a new bulk water supply scheme to benefit areas such as Phola, Ogies and Welge. The scheme originates from the Glencore’s newly constructed 15mega litre per day (Ml/D) Tweefontein water treatment plant located 7km south of Ogies.

The plant will treat mine waste water effluent from Glencore mining operations for potable water supply using reverse osmosis technology.

Glencore will serve as a bulk water services provider to the above mentioned that will benefit the areas. The scheme will make provision of approximately 12Ml/d and it is predicted to benefit a population of approximately 80 000.

The scheme will serve as an increase on the eMalahleni scheme since the scheme will no longer be the primary supplier of these areas. This will therefore save the scarce resource and increase provisions to other areas.
The implementation of the scheme has been supported by other government departments such as Department of Human Settlement (DHS), as a result DHS is funding the construction of a bulk water supply line to Phola reservoir and the contractor has recently been appointed for construction. It is foreseen that construction will be accomplished by end of March 2018.

Glencore is also in a process of building the remaining infrastructure in order to treat the water to a potable standard, have storage reservoirs and a pumping system. It is expected that the scheme should be in operation by the beginning of year 2018.

Another project launched by the municipality in July was a plant that was opened at point B. The plant consistently 5ML of high quality water daily.

Although the initial focus was a modular way to double the package plant to 10ML. The municipality has now fast tracked the increase in plant capacity to 20ML.

The project is set to benefit a lot of homes including houses who are in dire need of water and experiencing water problems almost on a daily basis.

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