GEORGE NEWS - With George having the Green Drop status in the bag, Civil Engineering chief Harold Basson says that Georgians can feel reassured that the water from the waste water treatment plant that is to replenish the Garden Route Dam will meet the highest standards of cleanliness.
Construction on the treatment plant at the Outeniqua sewage works is on schedule and it is to be started up by the end of June.

According to project manager Vincent Gouws, construction is executed in three parts. The ultrafiltration plant at the sewage works is now about 50% complete, the new pump station 60% and the pipeline that will transport the water to the dam is 90% complete. Once the civil construction of the filtration plant is complete, the installation of the filtration units will last about two weeks, says Gouws.
Speaking on the topic of the re-use of waste water, Basson says they are pioneers in waste water re-use and will be the first water authority in the country to employ indirect re-usage.
"This means that purified water is placed back into the source. Water Affairs and water specialists are increasingly seeing it as the future way towards sustainable water usage. People can drink the water without any qualms. Remember, we’re not willing to give up our Blue Drop status for our top drinking water quality!"
To get to a clean end product the water is tested in an ongoing process at regular intervals and should something be amiss, the water will not be put into the dam.
"Rand Water is the number one Blue Drop supplier and they get their water out of the Vaal River scheme that is full of effluent. They have to take what they can get. Locally we are in complete control of the full circle of water management."

Political will
Basson says at the moment they have the expertise to manage the needed infra-structure for supplying potable water of an excellent quality, but that the biggest challenge for the future will be to retain and develop knowledgeable, capable people.
"To retain the Blue and Green Drop status we need expertise, funds and the political
will. To ensure that our basic services are
environmentally friendly and not detrimental to public health, we need our political leaders to make the right decisions." 

Article: Ilse Schoonraad and Alida de Beer.
Photo: Alida de Beer