MAGALIES WATER EXTENDS ITS FOOTPRINT TO SERVE ALL OF NORTH WEST

Headquartered in Rustenburg, Magalies Water is now the North West Province’s sole water board following the recent integration of the previous operations managed by the now disbanded Sedibeng Water entity. IMIESA speaks to Chief Executive, Sandile Mkhize, about the entity’s strategy going forward.

In addition to being a major agricultural region, North West is a vibrant mining hub for one of the world’s richest platinum group metals deposits, alongside diamond, granite, and limestone operations (the essential ingredient for cement production) – and all central to driving South Africa’s domestic and export economy.

These are all highly water-intensive industries, requiring sustained supply. Alongside this is an equally important community priority, especially given that the province has an approximately 80% rural population, not all of whom are currently connected to serviced potable water and waterborne sanitation.

Historical context

From a historical perspective, the current trading operation was originally founded in

1969, with raw water now sourced from four major dams owned by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS). They comprise Bospoort (surface area: 378,8 ha; abstraction source: Hex River), Roodekopjes (surface area: 1 571 ha; abstraction source: Crocodile River), Vaalkop (surface area 1 110.5 ha; abstraction source: Elands River and Hex River) and Roodeplaat (surface area: 403 ha; abstraction source: Pienaars River).

All these dams are situated in the North West Province, with the exception of the latter, which is located in Gauteng. Roodeplaat is presently dedicated to supplying the City of Tshwane.

Extended mandate

Following an agreement with Rand Water in 1999, Magalies Water expanded the Vaalkop Water Treatment Works to meet current and future demand within the Rustenburg region.

Then in 2003, the Magalies Water board took a strategic decision to explore retail water operations and maintenance (O&M) as part of its secondary obligations. This followed the promulgation of the Municipal Structures Act and Municipal Systems Act.

Magalies Water Board’s mandate was further reinforced and extended by Section 29 and Section 30 of the Water Services Act, (Act 108). This enables Magalies Water to provide solutions for all Water Services Authorities (WSA) within its area – for both core and non-core related business activities. In addition to O&M, this includes management services and training, as well as catchment management.

Crocodile West Catchment Water Resource Management Project

A prime example of the latter is the Crocodile West Catchment Water Resource Management Project, which includes the Hartbeespoort Dam, where Magalies Water has been appointed by DWS for a 36-month term. Included within the scope is the profiling of the water quality, the removal of invasive vegetation, and the implementation of remediation technologies to restore the dam’s natural water balance.

So far, results obtained from the Magalies Water Scientific Services Laboratory (ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited) have confirmed a wide range of contaminants that include the presence of E. coli, ammonia and orthophosphate. Aside from the environmental threat, these and other pollutants negatively affect the cost of Magalies Water’s downstream treatment costs, especially for its Vaalkop water treatment plant, which is currently the largest in its network, producing some 270 Mℓ daily.

However, as Mkhize points out, the issues affecting Hartbeespoort Dam are part of a much broader problem nationally to address rising water pollution concerns within riverine systems.

The way forward

“One of my major focus areas as CE is to smoothly streamline the amalgamation of Magalies Water and Sedibeng Water. Working with the Magalies Water board of directors, proposed and accepted recommendations will shape the future operational strategy,” says Mkhize.

“Our objective is to provide quality bulk water, sanitation and other related services to our public and private sector stakeholders using the most efficient fit-for-purpose technological processes. Examples include lower cost chlorine dioxide purification – where applicable – and energy efficient variable speed drive motors for our treatment plants,” says Mkhize.

Prior to its dissolution, Sedibeng Water (established in 1979) serviced parts of the North West, Free State and Northern Cape, the latter two regions now having been absorbed by Bloem Water. In turn, Magalies Water’s assets and operations in Gauteng will be transferred to Rand Water, with Lepelle Northern Water taking over the current operations managed by Magalies Water in Limpopo. That places Magalies Water in a prime position to focus exclusively on North West.

New district municipalities added

The three district municipalities in North West previously managed by Sedibeng Water and now part of Magalies Water are Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati, Ngaka Modiri Molema, and Dr Kenneth Kaunda. The first two are WSAs. The exception is Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality where their local municipalities are WSAs, but not the district municipality itself.

“Across the country, organisational changes will ensure that each reconfigured water board is in a much stronger position to drive service delivery – particularly in support of undercapacitated municipal WSAs – in the quest to ensure Blue and Green Drop audit compliance, and self-sustaining entities,” Mkhize continues.

“Water provision is a national competency, but service delivery happens at a provincial and municipal level. In this respect, Cogta in North West is a key stakeholder where it’s important that we as Magalies Water are aligned with their expansion plans within municipalities in terms of infrastructure and human settlement development. Our Bulk Infrastructure Master Plan must be in synch with each respective Municipal Water Service Plan regarding reticulation expansion. And these systems must be affordable for end users.”

Magalies Water also engages extensively with its private sector clients in segments like agriculture, mining and tourism to understand and meet their bulk water supply requirements, steered by its Capital Investment and Stakeholder Committee, which also meets with WSAs twice a year.

Wastewater and sanitation options

Going forward, Magalies Water’s mandate will now also include regional sanitation scheme rollouts and central control of wastewater treatment plants to ensure uniform standards. Magalies Water currently has O&M agreements in place and will be expanding this service. Examples include an agreement with Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality to operate some of their wastewater treatment works. These O&M arrangements include local capacitation and skills transfer.

Mkhize says a major objective is to eliminate the long-drop system and minimise the use of Ventilated Pit Toilets – particularly in rural villages – by progressively phasing in waterborne sanitation services.

In the interim, he says there are excellent dry sanitation options published by the Water Research Commission that could also be implemented in smaller villages where waterborne sanitation may not be currently feasible.

“Our wastewater drive will also tie in with our overall reuse strategy, so that we can channel back treated effluent to near potable standard for industrial and agricultural applications – both at commercial and community scale – thus helping to preserve our scarce water resources within the province,” Mkhize explains.

The expanding network

One of Magalies Water’s major projects at present is the upgrade of the Bospoort system, which supplies water to Rustenburg Local Municipality. This refers specially to the Mafenya Pumping Station and Pipeline to Thlabane Reservoir project. The latter represents Phase II of Magalies Water’s ongoing expansion and upgrade programme forming part of the Pilanesberg Bulk Water Supply Scheme.

Phase I entailed the installation of a 42 km pipeline completed in 2016, extending from Evergreen at the Vaalkop water treatment plant and culminating at Mafenya Reservoir. Phase II travels a further 28 km from the Mafenya Reservoir – situated some 5 km from Sun City –through to the Mafenya pump station for onward transfer to the 30 Mℓ Thlabane Reservoir in Rustenburg. Completion is scheduled for the end of 2023.

An allied project is the Moretele South Scheme. Here the scope includes the construction of a

30 km steel pipeline from the Klipdrift Water Treatment Works in Hammanskraal to Moretele Local Municipality, which is expected to be completed by November 2024. The municipality forms part of the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality in North West.

Following the completion of some 52 km of pipeline in the first phase, a further 36 km is being installed to join up with the areas of Far West and Mogogelo in Moretele Local Municipality. A 25 Mℓ reservoir is currently under construction to act as a buffer system.

In closing

“As the custodians of water and wastewater in North West, we have appointed a service provider to update our Bulk Water Master Plan to include the three district municipalities inherited from Sedibeng Water. Once concluded, we will then approach our shareholders to source the funding for identified priority projects,” adds Mkhize.

“The upside is that studies confirm there’s more than sufficient water within the Crocodile West and the Vaal River catchments to meet future provincial demand for all communities,” Mkhize concludes.