WORLD Water Day is celebrated every year in March and is about focusing attention on the importance of water. Damaged ecosystems affect the quantity and quality of water available for human consumption. Today 2.1 billion people live without safe drinking water at home, affecting their health, education and livelihoods.
Dam levels in the Eastern Cape have been steadily declining, despite the recent rains that have added some needed relief to our water resources. A recent report by the Department of Water and Sanitation lists the total storage of water in the Eastern Cape as declining.
This trend, coupled with the severe drought conditions that are affecting most parts of the country, an increasing population and industrial growth, and environmental degradation, means we are forced to look at accelerated innovations in water resources and water services delivery to sustainably meet future water demands.
The Department of Water and Sanitation is raising awareness of nature’s potential to solve many of our water challenges. These include the harmonisation between other existing approaches such as wastewater re-use or grey water. However, the Department is also suggesting grander solutions such as planting new forests, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, and restoring wetlands – all which will have a favourable impact on water supply.
It’s an approach which was put forward by former Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane who explained that the Department was planning to ensure that there is a mix of surface and ground water, which includes options such as groundwater, wastewater re-use (grey water); desalination and rainwater harvesting, among others. Recycling, which is the re-use of waste water, and desalination are possible solutions to alleviate the effects of the persisting water scarcity.
Wastewater re-use is recycled, reclaimed or grey water. It refers to former wastewater that has been treated to remove solids and certain impurities, and then re-used for a variety of applications including landscaping and irrigation.
Although costly, many coastal cities appear to prefer desalination as a solution to the water crisis. However, unlike its desalination, an added advantage of wastewater recycling and re-use is that it requires far less electricity, and affords both economic and environmental benefits to those who embrace it.
In our quest for innovative ways to ensure sustainable water supply, it is important to start dealing with wastewater differently. We need to explore wastewater re-use and recycling as a resource rather than a waste and as a way to expand the country’s pool of water resources.
Leading the cities in this area is Durban, which is home to the country’s first private wastewater recycling plant. The idea for the plant was born in 1993 out of concern for the area’s increasing demand and limited water resources. This plant was later commissioned in 2001.
The plant treats 47.5 million litres of domestic and industrial wastewater to ‘a near potable standard for sale to industrial customers, with the added benefit of a lower tariff when compared to the normal tariff for potable water.
As a result, the plant has helped to free up sufficient drinking water for approximately 300 000 people in the area. In turn, this has reduced the demand for potable water and the quantity of effluent that is returned to the environment.
Using Durban as a success story of how wastewater recycling and re-use can be managed and used, it is clear that the future of water sustainability lies in looking at sources of water that will not only mitigate the effects of the drought, but also complement the existing sources. — Sazile Qweleka, Amatola Water’s Operations Optimisation Manager
Rethinking wastewater
Dam levels in the Eastern Cape have been steadily declining, despite the recent rains that have added some needed relief to our water resources. A recent report by the Department of Water and Sanitation lists the total storage of water in the Eastern Cape as declining.
This trend, coupled with the severe drought conditions that are affecting most parts of the country, an increasing population and industrial growth, and environmental degradation, means we are forced to look at accelerated innovations in water resources and water services delivery to sustainably meet future water demands.
The Department of Water and Sanitation is raising awareness of nature’s potential to solve many of our water challenges. These include the harmonisation between other existing approaches such as wastewater re-use or grey water. However, the Department is also suggesting grander solutions such as planting new forests, reconnecting rivers to floodplains, and restoring wetlands – all which will have a favourable impact on water supply.
It’s an approach which was put forward by former Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane who explained that the Department was planning to ensure that there is a mix of surface and ground water, which includes options such as groundwater, wastewater re-use (grey water); desalination and rainwater harvesting, among others. Recycling, which is the re-use of waste water, and desalination are possible solutions to alleviate the effects of the persisting water scarcity.
Wastewater re-use is recycled, reclaimed or grey water. It refers to former wastewater that has been treated to remove solids and certain impurities, and then re-used for a variety of applications including landscaping and irrigation.
Although costly, many coastal cities appear to prefer desalination as a solution to the water crisis. However, unlike its desalination, an added advantage of wastewater recycling and re-use is that it requires far less electricity, and affords both economic and environmental benefits to those who embrace it.
In our quest for innovative ways to ensure sustainable water supply, it is important to start dealing with wastewater differently. We need to explore wastewater re-use and recycling as a resource rather than a waste and as a way to expand the country’s pool of water resources.
Leading the cities in this area is Durban, which is home to the country’s first private wastewater recycling plant. The idea for the plant was born in 1993 out of concern for the area’s increasing demand and limited water resources. This plant was later commissioned in 2001.
The plant treats 47.5 million litres of domestic and industrial wastewater to ‘a near potable standard for sale to industrial customers, with the added benefit of a lower tariff when compared to the normal tariff for potable water.
As a result, the plant has helped to free up sufficient drinking water for approximately 300 000 people in the area. In turn, this has reduced the demand for potable water and the quantity of effluent that is returned to the environment.
Using Durban as a success story of how wastewater recycling and re-use can be managed and used, it is clear that the future of water sustainability lies in looking at sources of water that will not only mitigate the effects of the drought, but also complement the existing sources. — Sazile Qweleka, Amatola Water’s Operations Optimisation Manager
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