Desalination plant ready to roll

BY the end of this month, the City of uMhlathuze will boast South Africa’s first operational, portable desalination plant.

The mobile seawater purification unit, spearheaded by North Coast Water Utility (NCWU) in partnership with New York-based solutions company RWL Water, will start pumping 1 mega litre (one million litres) of clean drinking water into the Richards Bay reticulation system later this month, and on completion at the end of February supply a total of 10 mega litres for residents.

It will comprise 10 containers adjacent to the uMhlathuze effluent treatment plant at Pelican Island to remove salts and minerals from the extracted saline for potable water.

All brine will be flushed back into the ocean via the effluent pipeline.

‘This is the first of its kind in SA, and this is not special only because of the fact that it is moveable and can therefore be relocated to another desperate drought-stricken area when Richards Bay has sufficient water supply, but it has minimal impact on the environment because of its portable nature,’ said NCWU marketing director Mandla Mayise.

‘It is also an innovative and immediate response to an emergency situation.

‘There has been consideration to build the next one in Blythedale and we expect many more to be in demand across the country in years to come.

‘RWL already has plants based in 70 countries. We are confident it will be well received.’

According to RWL Water’s website, a typical mobile unit delivers 4 000 litres per hour (96 000 litres a day) – enough water for 2 000 people.

The units were specifically designed to be versatile when disasters such as floods, earthquakes, drought, fire and population displacement strike.

They can also produce drinking water from surface and brackish water and meet the World Health Organisation drinking water quality guidelines.

While desalinating sea water is generally known to be more costly than fresh water from rivers and lakes owing to high energy consumption, Mayise said electricity is only the best option ‘for now’.

‘We are exploring using solar energy in the future and with the Port of Richards Bay picked for the country’s largest gas-to-power plant, gas could very likely be the way to go. It could only get better!’

Desalination is certainly growing in popularity as the key answer in a crisis.

According to the International Desalination Association, in June last year 18 426 desalination plants operated worldwide, producing 86.8 million cubic meters per day and providing water for 300 million people.

This number increased from 78.4 million cubic meters in 2013, a 57% increase in just five years.

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