Pretoria - Contractors hired for a multimillion rand project to upgrade Rooiwal water treatment plant would provide weekly updates of the work envisaged to be completed in July 2022.
Regular updates of the project, it was said, would assist the new administration to check whether the type of work put into the project was in line with the stipulated time-lines.
The MMC for Utility Services and Regional Operation Co-ordination, Phillip Nel, said he had requested his team to keep him up to speed with developments at the plant on a weekly basis.
The plant's inability to purify wastewater had been identified as a source of polluted water supplied to residents in Hammanskraal and surrounding areas.
Challenges related to water purification resulted in the sludge being discharged from the treatment plant into the Apies River, which supplied water to Temba water treatment plant, used for purifying water for Hammanskraal residents.
Residents have for years complained that they were forced to drink dirty water.
In August, the Department of Water and Sanitation reported that it was satisfied that the quality of the effluent being discharged into the Apies River was eventually improved.
Nel said: “The City remains committed to decisively address the plight of communities that rely on the Rooiwal wastewater treatment plant for water.”
He said he would keep a close eye on the refurbishment project to make sure it stayed on track.
“The Rooiwal water treatment plant is a very crucial piece of water infrastructure, and it is important that it operates at full capacity to adequately service its local community,” Nel said.
The investment injected into the infrastructure project was vital to unlocking growth opportunities in the city, he said.
So far, the contract for refurbishment, valued at R 253m, has seen at least 17% of the civil works and 8% of the mechanical work being completed.
It was recently reported that part of the work being done so far included the emptying and cleaning of digesters, stripping and removal of old filter belts and pressers at the de-watering building which was almost complete.
The scope of the work included the upgrading of the inlet works, the biological reactors mixing and aeration system and the anaerobic digester on the Rooiwal East plant.
The upgrading work would also be done on the anaerobic digesters on the Rooiwal West plant, the top sludge de-watering facility and the Rooiwal North plant flow balancing tank.
In May, local government MEC Lebogang Maile indicated that about 15 other treatment plants in Tshwane were in poor condition.
Pretoria News