Umgeni
Water in Pietermaritzburg

Umgeni Water has six municipal customers, Umgungundlovu District Municipality, Sisonke District Municipality, Ilembe District Municipality, namely eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, Ugu District Municipality and Msunduzi Local Municipality.

Its desire to serve the disadvantaged population led the organisation to take a leadership role in community water supply and sanitation. Umgeni Water serves the needs of 6.1 million people. Water quality monitoring programmes are reviewed annually for all Umgeni Water operational sites and sampling and analysis are undertaken in accordance with Umgeni Water’s ISO 9001 certified monitoring programme and SANAS 17025 accredited laboratory methods, respectively. Overall, for the reporting period, Umgeni Water provided excellent drinking water quality to customers. Progress is being made with a turnaround strategy to progressively improve all iLembe boreholes and schemes. Umgeni Water received nine Blue Drop certifications for drinking water quality management excellence, together with the relevant Water Services Authorities in The results of the assessments will be released in 2014/2015. The gap is expected to close following the Darvill Wastewater Treatment Works upgrade scheduled for Reasons for gap to address full compliance and action plans At the Darvill WWTW, the variance is mainly attributable the plant operating above its design capacity resulting in process related problems. Inadequate aeration capacity of the activated sludge process and solids carryover further contributed to non-compliances. At Ixopo WWTW variations in the volumes of influent entering the plant, over-aeration, solids carryover and disinfection problems, contributed to the poor effluent quality. At Howick WWTW non-compliances were mostly due to very high mixed liquor suspended solids in the reactor units, largely as a result of problems with de-watering equipment, whilst drying beds were significantly affected by rain events. In particular for the Darvill WWTW various rehabilitation and upgrade projects have been budgeted for and are in progress, including a major works upgrade. At Howick WWTW, process improvement efforts are ongoing. Umgeni Water initiatives in the year included completion of internal process audits for all wastewater treatment works, identifying optimal water quality monitoring programmes for each site, developing multi-year training plans to address the skills gap to meet the requirements of the Water Services Act, Regulation 17, registration of superintendents and process controllers and overall preparedness to facilitate DWA assessments. Modern analytical techniques used a team of fifty-seven highly skilled and dedicated scientists and technicians, enables Umgeni’ Water facility to provides a world-class service 365 days a year. The key objectives of the laboratory in support of Umgeni Water’s primary business: Providing assurance that the organisation produces potable water that complies with drinking water standards, assuring that treated effluent complies with wastewater and effluent discharge limits, thereby assuring public health protection from water-borne diseases and water related health impacts. Water samples from rivers, dams, water treatment and wastewater treatment works are collected by a team of dedicated sampling officers on a daily basis throughout Umgeni Water’s operational area and is assessed in terms of its physical, chemical and microbiological characteristics. Early warnings and alerts are provided to stakeholders immediately that a breach of quality standards is detected. Umgeni Water plans and implements several projects for which work completed is shown in Table 11.1. To determine and optimise an analytical technique for the detection and quantification of endocrine disruptor compounds in Darvill wastewater. All experimental work on the HRC, at alternate site, Mvoti WTW, is complete (in the prior year the data collected assisted in the selection and design of an appropriate clarifier unit for the Hazelmere WTW upgrade). The technology is suitable for potable water treatment and a site is being sought for the full scale application of the technology. Plant trials testing the applicability of technology are complete and Umgeni Water is planning to relocate the plant to a suitable rural area.