Water and wastewater treatment specialist Talbot works with water intensive industries to build their resilience in the face of rising water scarcity. 

It prides itself as an organisation that blends the ability to provide strategic water security advice with the skill and track record of designing, building, owning and operating solutions in the industrial space. It has partnered with its customers to effect outcomes from conceptualisation of water reduction strategies and associated solutions, through to the long-term steady-state operation. 

As a sustainability and engineering focused water solutions company, Talbot’s mission is to enable industrial water users to:

• Define and understand their water balance.
• Gain full understanding of their unique water security risks. 
• Identify mitigation, management and engineering solutions.
• Develop opportunities for water recovery, reuse and recycling. 
• Effect water-related cost savings, and
• Mitigate the risk of compromising access for other users in the catchment. 

Water is critical to manufacturing processes. Over the past three-and-a-half decades, Talbot has provided engineered solutions to industries spanning mining, pulp and paper, agroprocessing, automotive manufacturing, food and beverage production, textiles, and fast-moving consumer goods, all of which rely fundamentally on the availability of water. 

Having worked largely in Africa – a continent that has long been afflicted by water scarcity, inadequate water infrastructure, and the demands of a rapidly growing population – Talbot has worked with its customers to sustain, or even grow their operations, by generating water efficiency across various aspects of their production cycles.

Sovereign Foods - Water Recovery Project 

Sovereign Foods is one of South Africa’s largest poultry producers and relies on significant volumes of water to sustain its operations. The company’s primary production facility is situated in the Kariega region of the Eastern Cape province.

In 2021, the water crisis in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, where Kariega is situated, had reached catastrophic proportions, with the average combined capacity of the region’s five main water supply dams dropping to 12.08%. 

Recognising the severity of the impending crisis and with a sustainability mindset at its core, Sovereign Foods sought a proactive, bespoke engineered wastewater recovery solution that would secure not just the viability of its business, but also the livelihoods of over 1 000 employees in an area grappling with crippling unemployment. 

The Solution

Talbot worked with Sovereign Foods to develop a customised technical and financial package. The water recovery plant operates under a hybrid lease-to-own and performance based operational model, where customers purchase water from Talbot at a predetermined R/kℓ rate. 

The wastewater treatment facility, commissioned in May 2024, is designed to receive up to 1 750 kℓ of wastewater a day and provide a minimum 72.5% potable water recovery rate. To date, the recovery plant has achieved over 75% recovery and has drastically reduced the facility’s reliance on municipal water (~30-million litres a month) – alleviating pressure on the local municipal supply system.

Talbot continues to work closely with Sovereign Foods in their transition to sustainable water. Projects like these have a significant direct impact for industry – reducing their water cost and risk exposure – and for the wider community within their water supply catchment.