Saiccor - The First 50 Years 5.8 MB - Sappi

The Mackenzie Period (1987–1989)
pm my wife Yvonne, clutching a bottle of champagne
(much to Franco Scarpa’s protestations, as he thought
there were much better uses for a bottle of champagne),
clambered into the pipe trench to launch the pipeline,
named ‘Ted’s Flute’�
A temporary jetty was specially constructed for the
‘pulling’ of the pipe� Contractors Smit Tak, under Cor
Vermeer, were a very professional outfit, steadily pulling
the pipe 3 km out to sea from 3�30 pm on 12 to 20
September, without any major problem� The landline
was then laid and the new effluent pipeline was
commissioned on 20 November 1987� This was a very
successful project, coming in on time and within the
R30 million budget, and complaints about effluent
ceased until the Mkomazi plant was commissioned in
1995�
About a week after the laying of the new pipeline,
420 mm of rain fell in the Mkomazi catchment area,
most of it between 25 and 29 September� The river level
started rising steadily� By the morning of the 28th the
level was looking dangerous and cooking was stopped�
By 3�30 pm the rest of the factory was stopped� At 6 pm
the water intake was abandoned as water was starting
to run across the operating floor, which was normally
some 8 m above the river level� The river flow reached a
peak of 7 000 cumecs (250 000 cusecs), coming to within
half a metre of the top of the berm on the west side of the factory,
and dangerously close to flowing into the site at the woodyard�
The flood had wreaked havoc� The open effluent channel from the
factory to the pumphouse (3,5 km) was filled with mud� The plastic
lining in the channel had been ripped for 1 km, 1,1 km of rail line
ballast had been damaged, the overhead power line to the effluent
pumphouse was down for 1,5 km, and the walkway to the intake
pumps and the sheet piling were destroyed� The new effluent pipeline
LEFT, the road bridge to Magabeni at the time of the flood and, RIGHT,
under normal conditions
133
The temporary jetty constructed for the ‘pulling’ of
the pipe by contractors Smit Tak
The plaque commemorating the launch of the effluent
pipeline, ‘Ted’s Flute’, on 12 September 1987
TOP, the factory at the time of the
flood (downstream from the
bridge) and, BOTTOM, under
normal conditions