As part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s intensive water supply augmentation plans, Acting Mayor, Councillor Thsonono Buyeye, recently led a site visit to the Coegakop Wellfield and Water Treatment Works following the commencement of construction work at the much anticipated plant.
This comes after the project experienced some delays due to contractual grievances recently.
However, phase four of the Coegakop Wellfield and Water Treatment Works, which is also the last phase of the multimillion–rand project, finally started in May and is progressing at a commendable speed.
Speaking at the site visit, Buyeye said that the prolonged delay in the project had been a huge setback for the city, regarding the water shortage challenge.
“This project is key for us as we will be able to extract as much water as we possibly can from underground sources, as we continue to address challenges in the city,” he said.
The mayor added that they had to deal with a lot of negativity when it came to this project and even answer in Parliament, as to why there were delays. “So for us to come here and see progress, that gives us hope. This is what we want to see; we don’t want any further delays now.
“We want the project managers to know that we will be closely monitoring their progress and make sure that deadlines are met.”
The project is valued at R260 million and will produce 26 megalitres a day to augment the current water supply sources of the NMBM once completed in 2022.
The water treatment plant, which is under construction, will also play a vital role in treating additional water from boreholes across the city to produce a total of 50 megalitres a day for residents.
NMBM senior director of Water and Sanitation, Barry Martin, said they had already drilled a number of production boreholes.
“We know where the water is and we are now test pumping these holes to exactly find out, because our licence application is for 26 megalitres per day, but each hole will be test pumped to see the amount of water we can get out of it,” he said.
Explaining why the plant would not be built where the water will be treated, Martin said, “The treatment facility is here because the ground water here is high in iron and manganese. The treatment facility will take the iron and manganese out of the water to comply with our drinking water standards.”
The project is expected to lift some burden off the Nooitgedacht Treatment Works, as 26 megalitres will now be abstracted from the plant to augment water supply from the western dams, which feed the Greenbushes area.
A total of 100 small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) will benefit from an estimated R65 million of the project funding.
Once completed, the Coegakop Wellfield and Water Treatment Works will be the largest biofiltration plant in South Africa.
