GEORGE NEWS - During a recent meeting of the George council, one of the opposition councillors, Virgill Gericke of the PBI, asked what had happened to the water purification plant in Rosedale that was erected some years ago and cost a small fortune.
With the constant awareness being raised of water scarcity in George, he wanted to know why the plant was not being used to relieve the situation.
Feedback from the municipality explains that the water provided by the operation of the ultrafiltration (UF) plant is not for direct consumption and still has to undergo treatments. Furthermore, raw water is not currently a scarcity in George.
"The UF plant located at the Outeniqua Waste Water Treatment Works was funded by Disaster Grant Funding (R90m, inclusive of the 450mm Ø pipeline construction from the works to the Garden Route Dam) in 2010 with no cost to the George Municipality directly," said spokesperson Chantèl Edwards.
"The water provided by the operation of the UF plant is not for direct consumption. The treated effluent is discharged into the Garden Route Dam, which is a raw water resource. It must be noted that raw water is currently not a scarcity in George. The UF plant is currently not in use, requiring various upgrades and energy efficiency considerations which are under review."
Why water restrictions?
The current water restrictions in George are not related to the level of the Garden Route Dam (it was measured at 89% last week), but to the capacity of the water treatment facilities.
The dam stores our raw water, not our drinking water supply. This raw water first needs to be treated at the Old and New Water Purification Plants before it goes to the main potable water storage reservoirs for distribution into the reticulation system.
Water restrictions were implemented on 25 January this year to restrict the excessive use of drinking water in George. The demand was too much for the water treatment works to ensure readily available drinking water plus an adequate emergency supply of potable water.
The municipality addressed this issue by applying for BFI funding for projects to ensure that it can not only provide adequate potable water for the current population and for future developments, but also to provide security of emergency water supply.
Using the UF plant to supplement the Garden Route Dam when the water or dam level is high would not be a cost-effective process.
ALSO READ: George to get desalination plant
'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
