Main Theme
Sub-theme: Water Treatment and Filtration Technology
Abstract
According to an editorial by Mail & Guardian – an African online news site, ‘South Africa’s next crisis will be water and it will be far worse than the rolling power blackouts that have been experienced over the past 14 years’. The prediction is following the recent water realities across municipalities in the countryside facing signs of collapse of water services.
South Africa as a water scarce country has continued to face a myriad of complex water issues including aging water infrastructure, growing water scarcity, drought, the impact of climate change and worsening pollution risks.
NuWater is a technology-led and smart water treatment and solutions company that designs, builds, finances, operates and maintains water treatment plants. Plants that treat contaminated water for the provision of high-quality drinking and industrial process water from almost any water source.
Through the diverse range of services provided by NuWater, their output is mainly focused on providing real solutions that are sustainable, mobile, adaptable, resourceful, and efficient. They create solutions that have the capacity to change lives, businesses, communities, ecosystems and environments for the better.
Sustainable Development Goals Chart
Main Highlights
- In 2019 in South Africa, dams were 10% to 60% below usual level due to drought and other significant water challenges.
- Water consumption in South Africa is higher than the global average. The consumption ratio is 234 litres to 173 litres per person daily.
- Johannesburg has been hit with water restrictions due to the drop in the water level of the Vaal dam by 53%.
- The heatwaves in South Africa has seen an all time increase in water consumption rising to 284 million gallons daily.
- Only 64% of households have access to safe and reliable water, with the remaining percentage falling under people living in municipalities and countryside (remote locations).
- 9% of the country’s population derive their water from polluted sources.
- 37% of drinking water in South Africa is lost through leaking pipes and infrastructural failures.
- There is a dire and widespread gushing of raw sewage from failing municipal wastewater treatment works.
- NuWater is a smart water treatment solution with the aim to promote sustainable communities and access to reliable and safe drinking water using sustainable, affordable, mobile and adaptive technologies to respond to water challenges across different sectors.
- The NuWater intervention in a chicken farm reduced the risk of total shutdown, loss of jobs and means of livelihood and price hikes because of shortages.
- NuWater intervention in a mining company protected the agricultural, industrial and residential areas from water crisis as a result of wastewater reservoirs spilling into the Vaal River.
- Its intervention also prevented the loss of 20000 jobs in a mining company due to water restrictions in the uMhalathuze municipality and saved the country from aluminum imports worth 4 billion Rand annually.
- The NuWater water treatment solution directly impacts Goals 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal.
- It is a high impact project recommended for replication in other African countries facing dire water problems.
Case Overview
The water crisis in South Africa is on an all-time increase as there have been various signs that the country is going to experience a huge water scarcity disaster soon.
South Africa relies on its rainwater, levels of which are unpredictable, unevenly distributed, and decreasing because of global warming. In 2019, dams were 10 to 60 percent below 2018’s levels. Although there was rain in early January 2020, the forecast remains dry weather.
It is also gathered that South Africans use more water than the global average. That is they consume over 234 liters per person daily. This implies that the country’s per capita water consumption is higher than the global average of 173 litres
With its looming water problems, reports have shown that in October 2020, Johannesburg residents were hit with precautionary water restrictions when the Vaal Dam levels dropped to 53%.
October 2020’s heatwaves saw daily consumption rise by 264 million gallons (1,000 million liters) and compounded by infrastructure problems, suburban faucets ran dry in the capital and this is without the certainty of six years of good rains.
Back in 2018, the National Water and Sanitation Master Plan identified a water supply deficit of 17% by 2030. The plan also acknowledged that only 64% od households had safe, reliable access to water, while at least 9% of the country’s population draw their water from polluted sources.
The master plan also revealed that more than 37% of the drinking water in South Africa is lost through leaking pipes and other infrastructure failures. On the other hand, close to half of all the country’s water bodies have poor water quality because of pollution and the destruction of river catchments.
There is also a dire and widespread gushing of raw sewage from failing municipal wastewater treatment works. Conclusively, the collapse of the freshwater ecosystem and the services they provide hurts their ability to regulate hydraulic flows, avert flooding and purify water for drinking.
NuWater is a response to the myriads of water problems in South Africa through its smart wastewater treatment systems and other water solutions they have put in place to create better access to clean water across the country.
NuWater was established in 2010 following the acquisition of Grahamtek large diameter RO technology patents and intellectual property. The executive lead of the firm is Billy James.
NuWater technology includes various cutting-edge systems for solving water treatment needs. As a smart treatment company, water solutions provided are with the aim of uplifting businesses and communities while at the same time protecting ecosystems and environments.
The different solutions technology includes
Ultrafiltration – The pressurized separation of water and colloidal solids using membrane technology. It uses a low-pressure of 0.03-micron barrier to remove solids, bacteria, and viruses hence providing consistent water quality (<0.1 NTU) no matter the variation in feed water quality.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) – a membrane technology that uses a very fine filtration process, occurring at a molecular level. The process involves forcing water through a semipermeable membrane, allowing only for a specific size of the molecule to pass and rejecting the rest. The process produces pure water diverted to storage tanks for use.
Carbon Filtration – carbon filters are small, granular pieces of carbon that have been treated to be extremely porous. This method uses absorption rather than filtration as harmful contaminants are absorbed by the activated carbon when exposed to raw water to be treated.
Other methods include, Nanofiltration, Glass media filtration, Micro filtration, and Burgess Iron Removal Method (BIRM) filtration.
NuWater water treatment solutions cross across different sectors in the society. From the agricultural sector, mining, industrial, to the municipalities and resident areas, the technology has been deployed to respond to water problems that has threatened and continues South African communities and ecosystems.
NuWater has strategically developed very technical mechanisms that address local issues and high-tech issues. The issues surrounding wastewater and pollution of freshwater sources is minimized with the services of NuWater.
Impact Statement
The impact of NuWater water treatment solutions can be assessed according to the different sectors it has been deployed for use.
NuWater Water Treatment in Agriculture
Confronted with ever-tightening water restrictions, a large national farming consortium was faced with a huge problem in their chicken farm as the quality of water availability is not up to its standards and threatens the survival of its egg laying facility.
This water crisis in the farm will directly affect operations, thereby putting jobs and livelihood at risk, creating chicken shortage, and driving an increase in prices apparently unfavorable for the common man.
A rapid deployment of NuWater water treatment plant built by incorporating a cutting edge combination of ultrafiltration and Reverse Osmosis technologies provided quality water available, restoring operations, and impacting jobs and livelihood of people.
Goals achieved: Goal 1, 2, 6, 8, and 9
NuWater Treatment in Mining
At the bank of the Vaal River is a Colliery, a net water positive mine which employs open cast strip mining to produce 18 million tons of low-grade coal every year. The mine also, deposited and stored wastewater from various pit watering operations, production process, and rainwater of over 8200 million litres reservoir often left to evaporate.
However, with the reservoir approaching its maximum capacity, there was a need for a wastewater treatment solution to avoid the wastewater from the reservoir to spill into the Vaal River which is a source of water for not just agriculture and industry but also 12 million consumers in and around Guateng, South Africa.
NuWater in response deployed a robust water solution plants and treatment plan that not only successfully dealt with extraordinarily dynamic deviations in the wastewater, but ever changing product qualities and quantities required to align to the fluctuating mining schedule and seasoning rainfall.
NuWater has equally produced more than 30 billion litres of water in 8 years of operation.
Goals achieved: 6, 9 and 11
NuWater Treatment in Industry
In March 2016, the uMhalathuze Municipality instituted the highest water restrictions as a result of drought, poor water infrastructure and increasing demands. The Aluminum Smelter of a giant mining corporation was threatened for close down. The closure of the smelter will invariably affect the region’s GDP as it contributes 10% of the region’s GDP.
As a response, NuWater deployed its water treatment plant with the capacity of generating 2 million litres a day. This solution saved the smelter from shutdown.
The impact includes the prevention of loss of 20,000 jobs of which will probably directly affect 80,000 people. Also, South Africa was saved from being a net importer of aluminum which would have cost the country 4 billion Rands annually.
Goals achieved: 1, 2, 6, 8, 9 and 11
NuWater Treatment in Power
With the rising levels of wastewater in their evaporating ponds, an international power generation organization collaborated with NuWater wastewater treatment solution.
The idea is to reduce rising wastewater which poses not just environmental risk but also has the potential of interrupting the operation of the power station’s operation.
With NuWater technologies, the product water reclaimed from the ponds was a high-quality process water, providing the Power saving with a sustainable resource, in turn reducing water usage and cost.
Goals achieved: 6, 7 and 9
Systems Perspective
NuWater Water treatment technology is a high impact company and business that has largely impacted the sectors and environment in which they operate. With their solutions created from the belief that environmental responsibilities are of utmost importance in today’s operating environment.
The impact of NuWater is not only in its adoption of mobile and adaptable technologies for solving water issues but also its cross sectoral ability. It has products capable of solving water problems in different places for different people amidst varying levels of challenges faced.
NuWater through its solutions has generously created a chain of response mechanisms that continues to salvage the threatening risks of drought, aging water infrastructures, increasing demand that has become the realities of most South African in different municipalities.
One of the significances of NuWater is that it has a water treatment solution and response for everyone both in the municipalities (local communities) and in the urban areas. There are cost effective and friendly treatment solutions for locals that enable them to have access to clean water.
While the water treatment solutions are smart and high-tech innovations, they are equally sustainable, affordable, mobile, and adaptive, narrowing the gap in its operational capacity in different locations. This makes it efficient and effective with a longer tendency to cater for water needs for a very long period.
Assessing the water crisis in South Africa and looking at NuWater interventions, it is apparent that the water treatment solution has strategically positioned itself as a unique response mechanism towards achieving a country with better access to clean water. As such, the water treatment solution technologies should be greatly encouraged and replicated in other places in Africa for more impact and subsequent arrest of water problems in the African region.
Sustainable Water Resource
Links and Contact Information
- https://nuwater.com/client-success-story-nuwaters-water-treatment-solutions-save-luxury-karoo-getaway-property/
- https://nuwater.com/top-4-water-purification-solutions-for-water-scarce-areas/
- https://nuwater.com/our-nuwater-technology-explained/
- https://nuwater.com/client-success-story-rapid-water-supply-deployment-to-senegal/
- https://youtu.be/TLVlho0IAtw
- https://youtu.be/A0SgV2fm0q4
Company Website: https://nuwater.com/
LinkedIn Profile of NuWater: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nuwater/
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/NuWater_CTM
Email: info@nuwater.com
Tel: +27217883125
Case by: 4Revs Researcher Nkechika Ibe | April 2022
