On 31 March 2022, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) released the 2022 Green Drop report which examines the infrastructure and management of wastewater in South Africa, with a focus on municipal wastewater treatment, from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.
According to this latest Green Drop report, the county’s wastewater treatment system is in an alarming and unacceptable state. Out of 955 assessed systems, 334 wastewater treatment systems (or 39%) are classified as critical compared to 248 (29%) systems reported in the 2013 Green Drop report.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) recognises the importance of the Decadal Plan of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Water Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Roadmap as these strategic documents provide a structured framework to focus the contribution of RDI activities on the implementation of national policy, strategy and planning in water management in South Africa.
Over the years, the CSIR has developed water research and technologies to assist local municipalities to extend the lifespan of current wastewater treatment systems and enhance the quality of wastewater effluent.
Have you read? Wastewater treatment in S.Africa shows Green Drop strain
The valorisation of wastewater technology is one of the CSIR’s innovations for struvite recovery from municipal wastewater. The CSIR has been at the forefront of water research and produced tools of intervention to respond to wastewater management difficulties.
The current treatment strategy concentrates on reducing the pollutants’ detrimental effects on the ecosystem. The technology being developed by the CSIR will push for a paradigm shift in the industry, focusing on the recovery of precious resources.
The Decision Support System (DSS) developed by the CSIR is another invention that enables South Africa’s potential for large-scale water reuse to be prioritised. This tool can be used to help determine the potential for water and wastewater reuse across the nation. It increases water use efficiency and contributes to the circular economy by reusing the effluent produced by industry and major cities nationwide.
The future version of the DSS will focus on obtaining additional data for each water user, which will allow for a more detailed and reliable assessment of fit-for-purpose wastewater reuse options. The CSIR is uniquely placed to provide this smart water solution in South Africa.
Have you read? Analysis: Zero liquid discharge systems, new tool for wastewater elimination
In 2018, South Africa’s water and sanitation master plan envisioned that, by 2040, treated acid mine water would make a “significant contribution” to the country’s water mix. The CSIR has worked on research focusing on acid mine drainage treatment and developed an AMD treatment system – an automated, modularised and mobile package treatment plant for efficient and viable treatment of mine wastewater qualities.
The game-changing technology relies on a combination of activated magnesite, softeners and reverse osmosis to recover valuable minerals at different stages of the process. This is a zero-liquid discharge technology and it is used to minimise the ecological footprints of acid mine drainage.
The decentralised wastewater treatment system that the CSIR researchers have created is linked to chemical-free sanitation technologies. Small community-based settlements, including schools, prisons, industrial parks, rural areas and peri-urban communities, can use the decentralised, modular packaged wastewater treatment systems. The wastewater can be further cleaned up using chemical-free methods to enable use for further applications.
The advantage of this technology is that the quality of the effluent is more controlled than in conventional wastewater treatment plants. Thus, it can be used for different purposes at the point of source, leading to reduced water demand. Most conventional wastewater treatment plants are currently overloaded with inflows, with some operating above design levels.
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CSIR Water Research Centre manager, Dr Rembu Magoba, said the institute is the partner of choice for government and other private organisations when it comes to water research and is ready to work with various municipalities and other strategic partners to address water challenges in South Africa.
“Our partnership with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, the DWS, water boards, the DSI, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent, Water Research Commission and Council for Geoscience, among other key water institutions, including the private sector, will be key to ensure that we deliver water services in South Africa, especially to the rural parts of our country.
“The CSIR aims to create fit-for-purpose technologies for developing and optimising smart and robust water use and wastewater infrastructure with concomitant improved operation and maintenance,” says Dr Magoba. The CSIR has a fully-fledged water research team focusing on South Africa’s water needs, such as smart water use, smart water and wastewater infrastructure and smart water analytics and solutions.
Magoba is a speaker at the Africa Water, Waste & Green Energy Conference 2022, currently on at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.
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