City of Cape Town to Share Its Water and Sanitation Vision and Showcase Facilities During African Utility Week

Cape Town, South Africa, May 12, 2013 --(PR.com)-- The City of Cape Town will showcase its world class water and sanitation facilities and share its strategic plans for the future of the City’s water services during next week’s African Utility Week and Clean Power Africa conference and exhibition. As host city to this annual event, the City of Cape Town will welcome some 5000 power and water professionals to the CTICC from 14-15 May.

“Compared to other large municipalities in the country, the City of Cape Town is one of the best,” says Nicolette Pombo-van Zyl, the producer of the African Utility Week’s water track in the conference programme. “The water and sanitation department is extremely pro-active in how it manages the city’s water resources, from bulk water through to the waste water systems. There is a clear, very strategic and long-term vision to plan for the expansion of the city and cope with subsequent growth. For example, the Faure Water Treatment Plant has one of the most advanced control centres in the Southern African hemisphere and frequently hosts delegations from international water professionals. We look forward to sharing the city’s vision, as well as a glimpse into its facilities, with African Utility Week delegates next week.”

Demand will outstrip supply by 2019
According to the City of Cape Town’s Director of Water and Sanitation: Phil Mashoko, they have estimated that demand will outstrip supply in 2019 and that other sources must have been developed by then. Says Mr Mashoko: “We are working closely with the Department of Water Affairs to prioritise the next sources. Options include water demand management, Voëlvlei off river dam raising, waste water reclamation, desalination, Lourens River, Table Mountain Group Acquifer (ground water), Steenbras Dam raising and effluent re-use.”

Jaco de Bruyn, Head: Integrated Planning, Strategy and Information Management at the department will address the water track at the African Utility Week conference on ”Strategic plans for water services in Cape Town.” Says Jaco: “I will discuss how we run the Water and Sanitation business within the operating boundaries given to us. We do this by strategic planning linking the City’s Vision and Strategic Focus Areas to our own Balanced Scorecard, following a risk-based approach to resource allocation and continuous outcomes measurement, with strong attention given to customer, stakeholder and staff. Also, by staying financially viable while maintaining the balance between first world city development and social responsibility towards the indigent.”

He continues: “We also ensure that adequate water resources are available for the metropolitan area, eliminating wastage and pollution is prevented. The department furthermore plans for reduced energy consumption and global warming long-term impact. We integrate our planning with the role players within and external to the City, increasingly making use of efficiency and empowering technology, including hydraulic models, GIS, remote monitoring, automation, real time measurement.”

African Utility Week site visit
As part of the African Utility Week technical site visit tours on 16 May, the City of Cape Town's Water and Sanitation Department is hosting a tour which will showcase the full range of its facilities, some of them state of the art, to enable water professionals to enhance their learning. The tour includes:

• Athlone Wastewater Treatment Works: Treated Effluent Project
• Epping Industria: Water and Sanitation Department’s AMR project
• Mandalay: Pressure Management Project: This $1 million water pressure management system in Mandalay, Mitchells Plain ranks as the third largest in the world. The system will mitigate damage to household plumbing appliances and pipes created by excessively high water pressures in pipes supplying consumers.
• Faure Water Treatment Plant: Water Treatment Processes and Turbine Installation: Faure Water Treatment Plant is one of the most sophisticated plants of its sort in the Southern African hemisphere and the flagship of the Cape Metropolitan Council’s (CMC) water treatment facilities. It has a design capacity to process 500 megalitres per day, and currently sources and treats between 200 and 400 megalitres from Riviersonderend and Firlands pump stations at the Steenbras Dam and distributes it to reservoirs in the area.
• Fisantekraal: Wastewater Treatment Plant: Featuring enhanced control centre system and use of ultraviolet light disinfection technology. The City had been faced with serious development constraints in the northern parts of the city because the Bellville and Kraaifontein WWTWs were running out of spare capacity.

The African Utility Week expo is free to attend if visitors register online beforehand and there are more than 60 free, CPD-accredited technical workshops on the exhibition floor. These practical courses are complimented by 250 global solution providers and manufacturers, in particular water companies Bentley Systems, Aqua-loc, AquaTrip, DIEHL Metering, Elster Kent Metering, Kamstrup, WEG-Wise, SA Leak Detection and many more.