WASTEWATER
A fully functional sewage treatment plant installed at Curro Bloemfontein
Wastewater treatment plants that you cannot see, hear or smell Celebrating over a decade in business, the owner and founder of Maskam Water – Gerhard Cronje – talks to Kirsten Kelly about the wastewater treatment industr y. How and why did Maskam Water begin? GC Like most businesses, Maskam Water was born out of a need. I was asked to source an on-site wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) that must be installed underground, cannot be heard and is odourless. Furthermore, the effluent had to be used for irrigation purposes. I simply could not find anything locally that would meet the customer’s needs. A few months later, the US Commerical Service contacted me. Zoeller from the USA was looking for a distributor for its pumps in the Western Cape. As this solution was unique, I imported a few of these pumps and then enquired about WWTPs. Zoeller supplied those too, and introduced me to its plants. I presented these to a local municipality as well as the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). After positive feedback, I imported and installed the first WWTP in August 2010.
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Called the Clarus Fusion Series Treatment System, the WWTP is a drop-in system used in decentralised applications where the effluent quality needs to meet or exceed DWS standards. After the first installation, we started to receive orders from referrals, and Maskam Water was born. To date, we have installed 298 plants in South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Mauritius, as well as the UAE and now the USA. Are all of your WWTPs imported? In 2016, Maskam Water started to manufacture some of the smaller plants locally to reduce shipping times and costs. In 2018, we began to manufacture some of the bigger models. This year, we have exported our first unit to the USA. While our plants are an American product, it has been found that it is far
Gerhard Cronje, owner and founder, Maskam Water
more cost-effective to build these plants in South Africa and export them to the USA due to the exchange rate. Why use the Clarus Fusion Series Treatment System over a septic tank? Traditionally, septic tanks are used in rural areas that are far from the metros. A septic tank will break down solids, but it cannot treat water. With septic tanks, there is a high probability that impurities will pollute groundwater. While the National Water Act (No. 36 of 1998) does not prevent septic tanks from being built, it does specify a level of water quality that
