Progress is steadily being made on the refurbishment and repair of the Rooiwaal wastewater treatment works (WWTW) and the construction of the package plant at the existing Klipdrift water treatment works (WTW), in Hammanskraal, assures Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina.

Following a project inspection last month, undertaken alongside Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo and City of Tshwane (CoT) executive mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya, Majodina commended the progress on the Rooiwal WWTW and the Klipdrift project, which is expected to be a temporary lifeline for communities in Hammanskraal.

“I am happy with the progress made so far. The project is on course and the resources provided by the municipality to ensure that the project is completed have been sufficient. We trust that, notwithstanding the delays, the collaboration between us and the CoT will bear tangible results,” she says.

The Rooiwal WWTW has been a source of pollution, discharging raw or partially treated effluent into the Apies river, which, in turn, flows into the Leeukraal dam, where the Temba WTW abstracts raw water for treatment and distribution as potable water to residents. The plant collects and treats about 70% of Tshwane’s wastewater.

The repair and upgrading of the Rooiwal WWTW is being implemented by the Development Bank of Southern Africa in three phases. The first comprises the completion of a repair project which was started by the city and suspended at 68% completion, and the full refurbishment of the 250-megalitres-a-day (Mℓ/d) treatment plant to restore it to its optimum functioning capability.

The second phase entails upgrading the plant’s treatment capacity by 50 Mℓ/d of wastewater and the desilting of sludge at the Leeukraal dam, the latter of which will enable the Temba WTW to function better and produce drinking water that meets minimum standards.

The third phase will involve adding a further 80 Mℓ/d of capacity to the plant, which, following phases two and three, will boost capacity to 380 Mℓ/day to treat the current and future projected wastewater load to cater for the growing population of Tshwane.

The ultimate goal is to ensure that the plant releases effluent that meets the required quality standards into the Apies river.

Progress has been made on the first phase since work started in March last year using the CoT’s Urban Settlements Development Grant allocation of R450-million, says Majodina.

The work scope included securing the site with new security installations; the refurbishment, repair and construction of various infrastructure, including two primary settling tanks; the refurbishment of five digestors; the repair of incinerator and administration buildings; sludge pipelines; new access roads; and stormwater and drainage work.

As a result, the city has reported improving effluent quality being discharged at the plant.

The CoT has also partnered with Infrastructure South Africa and the Water Partnership Office, supported by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), to raise more funds for the second and third phase upgrades.

Meanwhile, the upgrading of the Klipdrift WTW with a package plant to increase the capacity of treated water by 50 Mℓ/d to supply parts of Hammanskraal is still progressing.

The package plant, implemented by Magalies Water, consists of four modules, each contributing 12.5 Mℓ/d of treated water to the distribution system.

Module one of the package plant at the Klipdrift WTW was completed in October and is supplying water to seven villages in Hammanskraal through the Babelegi reservoir.

The second module is expected to be operational, at 12.5 Mℓ/d, by the end of June, while modules three and four are scheduled for completion in August and September respectively.

“The planned completion of the whole package plant and associated works by June 2025 has been delayed owing to persistent rainfall experienced in the area during the months of January to April that has severely impacted construction activities. [As] a result, the construction programme has been readjusted to the end of September 2025 for all the package plant modules.”

In the interim, the completed module one, which supplies 12.5 Mℓ/d of water to parts of Hammanskraal, has been modified to produce an extra 5 Mℓ/d, augmenting its capacity to 17.5 Mℓ/d by May 21 to enable the city to start with systematic flushing of the second zone.

The communities that will benefit from the increased capacity of module one are Majakaneng, Kudube Units 1, 2, 3, 6, 10 and Unit D, Jubilee Tower, Jubilee Direct and Dominican Tower.

The CoT has also started installing water meters in households that never had meters before, and replacing old meters in stands that were previously metered to ensure that water use is measured and billed to all the users.

Moya assures residents that the city and the DWS are “all hands on deck” regarding both projects and that the city is still pursuing legal action against the previous contractors that abandoned the Rooiwal WWTW project.

“We are pleased with the work being done by contractors appointed to finish the upgrades at the Rooiwal WWTW. However, we have not abandoned our efforts to hold accountable the companies that provided poor workmanship on this project. We have resubmitted our blacklisting application to the National Treasury,” Moya says.

“The contractor who left the site is not off the hook; we are going to assist the municipality in ensuring they are held accountable,” Majodina adds, emphasising the importance of ensuring that quality work is undertaken to restore trust in government.

“What happened in Rooiwal caused a lot of harm, and that is why we are intervening. It is up to us to restore trust; people must trust that when the government intervenes, work gets done.

“It is important that, when there is a challenge, all spheres of government come together for the greater good of the citizens,” Majodina concludes.