TOTT 2 September 2021

2 Advertising & Newsdesk: (046) 624-4356 Find us on Facebook 2 September 2021 TALK OF THE TOW N
Deputy ministers assess RO plant
QFS’s Ndlovu explains the processes
TK MTIKI
Deputy ministers of water and
sanitation David Mahlobo and
Dikeledi Magadzi visited Port
Alfred on Wednesday to monitor
progress of the RO plant.
Quality Filtrations Systems’
representative Musawenkosi Ndlovu
gave a briefing of how the RO plant
wo r k s .
She said the focus was on
sustainability and the quality of water
provided to residents.
Ndlovu said water was being
extracted from the Kowie River about
1.4km from the site.
From the extraction point, the water
is pumped into a pump station situated
CRIMEB R I E FS
The Multi Security control room
received a call from a client in
Francolin Road, at 9.55am on
Tuesday August 24 when an intruder
was seen on site. The premises was
checked and found to be locked and
secure. A person walking in the
street was asked to leave the area.
At 10.10am that day the Multi
Security control room received a
call from client in Becker Street
requesting response as someone
was sleeping on the porch and the
client was unsure if the man was
alive. A response officer met up with
the client on site, and discovered
the trespasser was a homeless man,
but they managed to remove him
and he left the premises.
Later on Tuesday, at 3.46pm the
Multi Security control room
received a message from a CBD
business reporting a man who
walked into the shop and tried to
buy items with a fake R100 note.
The man ran towards Standard
Bank in Main Street.
The response officer patrolled
the CBD area but found no sign of
the man.
On Southwell Road at 5.26pm both
the SAPS and Multi Security were
called for backup on site, as a
person had been stabbed, and the
suspect was on site.
At 6.47pm A Multi Security officer
reported that there were people
making a fire at the soccer field. Fire
Control and the SAPS were
contacted at 6.49pm and the fire
was extinguished.
At 5.41am on Wednesday August
25 the Multi Security control room
¿
29 Miles St, Port Alfred
PO Box 2871, Port Alfred, 6170
046 624 4356 / Fax: 046 624 2293
Chiara Carter, chiarac@dispatch.co.za
Jon Houzet, houzetj@talkofthetown.co.za
Anneli Hanstein, hansteina@arena.africa
Chris van Heerden, vanheerdenc@arena.africa
ĂůŬŽŌŚĞŽŶĐŽĂ
next to the river. When the water
r e a ch e d the RO site, any solid matter
was removed by a screen, she said.
“From the screen it goes to the
buffer tank and from the buffer tank to
the ultrafiltration.
“The ultrafiltration is the critical part
because on the other side there is
reverse osmosis which is very
e x p e n s ive .
“Ultrafiltration removes the bacteria
or anything that can make you sick. It
gets removed at the ultrafiltration.
“The water from the ultrafiltration, if
it’s not salty, you can actually drink it
because all the bacteria and the things
that can make you sick gets removed
there.
“From the ultrafiltration the water
received an alarm from Masonic
Street and a break in was confirmed.
The Multi Security control room
informed the owner and the local
SAPS.
On Biscay Road at 4.53pm a client
phoned in and requested armed
response as they had caught
someone shoplifting. The SAPS also
attended. It was reported that all
was under control and no case was
opened.
On Beach Crescent at 9.13pm a
client reported on WhatsApp that
there had just been a beggar at their
premises but he had left. It was
reported that the man was wearing
black pants. A response officer
patrolled the area and reported no
suspicious person.
At 1.44pm the Multi Security
control room was alerted to
someone standing close to the fence
at a property in Pike Lane. The
response officer dispatched reported
it was the gardener working at the
premises.
On Monday August 30 on Mentone
Road at 10.08pm the Multi Security
Control room received an alert of a
male waking towards Mentone
Road. The response officer
dispatched reported no one
suspicious in the area.
Also on Monday at 4.43pm the
Multi Security Control Room
received an alarm signal from the
Old Nature Reserve and the
response officer reported there was
an open door on site. The premises
was checked but nothing appeared
to be missing. A guard was placed
on site as per the client’s request.
ĂůŬŽĨŚĞŽŶ
ΛĂůŬŽŌŚĞŽŶĞĐ
ĂůŬŽĨŚĞŽŶŶĚůĂŵďĞ
Talk of the Town subscribes to the Code of Ethics and Conduct for South African Print
and Online Media that prescribes news that is truthful, accurate, fair and balanced.
If we don’t live up to the Code, within 20 days of the date of publication of the material,
please contact the Public Advocate at 011 484 3612, fax: 011 4843619. You can also
¿khanyim@ombudsman.org.za or lodge a complaint on our
website: www.presscouncil.org.za
goes to a buffer tank and only then it
can go through reverse osmosis wh e r e
salt gets removed.
“We use high pressure there to
separate salt from the water and the
final water gets to the final water tank.
“But because some minerals would
have been removed during this whole
process, to make it taste fine and to
balance the chemistry there is a
stabilisation process where we stabilise
all the chemistry,” she said.
R E P R E S E N TAT I O N
Ndlambe gives answers on
RO plant concerns
JON HOUZET
It took a month, but
Ndlambe Municipality
has answered resident
Mike Varela’s
questions about the
seawater and
wastewater reverse
osmosis (SWRO and
WWRO) plant
projects.
The municipality
admitted it had no
backup generators for
the RO plants and
pumps to prevent
shutdowns during
power outages or
loadshedding. It said it
was looking at the
viability of installing
such generators, but it
would have a
significant capital and
operational cost.
“QFS indicated that
UPS’s have been
installed which
protects the plant
(critical components)
against damage during
power outages,” the
municipality stated.
The municipality
said it took 30 minutes
to an hour for the RO
plant to restart and
reach capacity output
after a shutdown, with
water production
increasing gradually
over this time.
“RO plants should
not be stopped
u n p l a n n e d ,” the
municipality said.
“With loadshedding
schedules known,
damage can be
m i t i g a t e d .”
As for the best
estimate for RO
production under
loadshedding, the
municipality said: “Th e
plant is designed to
produce 2Ml/d and
3Ml/d respectively
within a 20hr cycle.
Production will
therefore depend on
the duration of the
loadshedding. With a
loadshedding scenario
where power outage is
predictable, we asked
QFS to look at whether
the maintenance and
cleaning can coincide
with the power outages
to minimise the
d ow n t i m e .”
On the topic of
municipal water
deliveries to private
individuals during the
water crisis, the
municipality said: “In a
situation where an
individual household
orders water they pay
for that water. It is not
new, this has been
happening even before
the crisis.”
Free water was
provided in communal
tanks placed in
strategic areas, the
municipality said.
One of Varela’s
most critical points was
about contracted
output for the 3ML/day
WWRO plant. He said:
After this stage, the water gets
pumped out to the municipal reservoir.
Commenting on the processes, she
said: “It’s not just a matter of getting
water through the processes and getting
it to the other side.”
She added that the wastewater
section had a similar process, but
included additional stages like an
oxidation process.
She assured deputy minister
Mahlobo that it was a tried and tested
“It remains my strong
suspicion that our
sewage plant never
consistently (if ever)
had the required
throughput [of sewage]
to deliver the
contracted yield [of
potable water]. Please
provide me with data
and calculations to
convince me
o t h e r w i s e .”
The municipality’s
response was: “Th e
3ML/day plant is not
only taking into
account current
demand, but also
allows for growth,
development and other
planned projects.”
The municipality
gave three scenarios
based on 70% WWRO
plant efficiency.
• In 2018, product
water was projected to
be 2.1 ML/day.
• C u r r e n t l y,
dependent on
availability of water
from Sarel Hayward
and the borehole field,
product water was
estimated to be about
1.5 ML/day (only
WWRO).
• A future
projection is to reach
the contracted output
of 3ML/day (only
WWRO).
“These percentages
are due to increase as
developments are
connected to the
waterborne sewer
s y s t e m ,” the
municipality said.
The municipality
denied that only two
out of 11 sewage pump
stations were working,
and that no sewage
was reaching the
sewage plant.
The municipality
said the daily flow
readings of sewage
through the sewage
plant was 0.5Ml/day,
“based on manual
measurements by
QFS”.
Asked by Varela if
the SWRO plant
installed by QFS was
the same plant that was
rejected by the City of
Cape Town after being
installed in the
harbour, because it
could not handle
the dirty harbour
water, the municipality
said no, but it admitted
some components of
that plant had been
used, such as the
a b s t ra c t i o n
pumpstation, initial
screen and tanks.
“But the cleaning
processes are new. The
plant produces water
that meets the
national drinking
water quality. This has
been tested by an
independent
l a b o ra t o r y,” the
municipality assured.
Varela asked the
reason for the
extended period of low
24 Hours: 0861 046 046
Office Hours: (046) 624 3708
WHEN GOING OUT OR TO TOWN DO NOT CARRY UNNECESSARY
DOCUMENTS OR PROPERTY WITH YOU THAT CAN BE STOLEN
process that had been used for the past
ten years in other areas.
After Ndlovu’s briefing, the officials
made a site tour.
While acknowledging more work
wa s still to be done to finalise the
processes, Mahlobo said he was happy
about the progress he witnessed.
He further asked that all
stakeholders like community members
be informed of the kind of water they
would be drinking.
ARCHERY ACHIEVERS: Four
Port Alfred High School pupils,
from left, Scott Elliott, Liana
Potgieter, Alistair Purdon and
Pieter du Plessis will represent
Eastern Cape archery team in
the forthcoming
Interprovinicial Archery
Competition. Congratulating
them is principal Nigel Adams,
who is very proud of their
success in these challenging
times
output from the SWRO
plant since it went
online.
The municipality
responded: “There is
unexpectedly fast
blockage of the UF
[ u l t ra f i l t ra t i o n ]
membranes which
does not seem to wash
off properly with the
cleaning regimes
implemented to date.
Samples of the matter
have been sent to
laboratories and the
membrane specialist to
identify what it is.
Once identified, the
root cause can be
found and addressed.”
After looking
through the
municipality’s answers,
Varela said: “Th e
answers in part
confirmed some
assumptions while
appearing to refute
some reports such as
no sewage currently
flowing through the
plant. It is also noted
that while they said it is
untrue that only two of
the town's 11 sewage
pumpstations were
working, they did not
provide figures of the
actual situation.”
He added: “Using
the S30A – wh e t h e r
2018 or 2020 – to
facilitate a process that
cannot address nor
alleviate said
emergency within the
timeframe of the
waiver, appears to be
an abuse of the
emergency process.
“I understand that
the S30A is an
emergency waiver, that
suspends the EIA
requirements for listed
activities during the
duration of the waiver
p e r i o d .”