Water Quality Management
Specifications
Setsoto Municipality has adopted the South African National Drinking Water Standard (SANS) 241: 2006 drinking water quality standard (95% compliance to class I and 99% compliance to class II) as a delivery specification.
The WHO
Setsoto Municipality benchmarks quality water supplied to consumers against the World Health Organisation (WHO) drinking water quality guidelines.
Monitoring Programmes
The Municipality have three monitoring programmes to ensure the delivery of healthy good quality drinking water to our consumers.
1. Operational Monitoring at all Water Treatment Plants
On a daily basis, at least once per shift, tests are performed on raw water entering the plants, after sedimentation, after filtration and the final treated water.
2. Operational Monitoring in the Distribution System
On a daily basis, tests are performed in the distribution system at pre-set sampling points(houses, schools, clinics etc.) and reported to the Department of Water Affairs on the Blue Drop System.
3. Compliance Monitoring
On a monthly basis, tests are performed on the final treated water leaving the Water Treatment Plants for storage. Tests are also performed on water stored as well as water in the distribution systems and different point-of-use sites.
Reporting of Results
At the end of each month, all results are loaded onto the Blue Drop System. Reports are also generated for Management to keep them up to date on the quality of water supplied to our communities. A summary of the water quality is also available on this site by clicking on the top left button (WQ Results).
Ensuring Credible Results
The Municipality takes part in a Proficiency Testing Scheme with the SABS. The SABS then issue a z-score to the Municipality indicating the Laboratory’s competency and credibility.
Full SANS 241 Analysis
As a regulatory requirement, once a year, a full SANS 241 analysis on drinking water is performed at an independent SANAS accredited Laboratory.
Ficksburg Water Supply System
The Ficksburg Water Treatment Works with a design capacity of 16.5 Mega liters per day, receive raw water for purification from the Caledon River and Meulspruit Dam.
Raw water is abstracted from the Caledon River via an inlet tower and pumped to the treatment works. Raw water from Meulspruit dam is pumped to a balancing dam on the slopes of the Imperani Mountain from where it gravitates through two pipelines with a length of approximately 7km to the Water Treatment Plant. Raw water from both the sources combine in a header tank for mixing. From the header tank, the raw water is dosed with an aluminum based poly-electrolyte coagulant.
After chemical dosage, the water coagulates and flow into two mechanical sedimentation basins where the colloidal matter are separated from the water. The supernatant water then flow to the 5 rapid gravity sand filters for further removal of unwanted matter. The filtered water is then dosed with chlorine gas to kill harmful bacteria. The final treated water is then pumped to the 2 Northern Reservoirs with a total capacity of 6.7 Mega liters and the 2 Meqheleng reservoirs with a total capacity of 7.1 Mega liters. From the reservoirs, the water flow into the distribution network for community use. Ficksburg Water Treatment Works supply potable water to 51568 residents.
The Ficksburg Water Treatment Works also hosts an in-house Laboratory where water analysis are performed on a daily basis to ensure that water supplied to the communities comply with South African National Standards (SANS:241). On a monthly basis, water from the other towns in Setsoto (Clocolan, Marquard and Senekal) are sampled and analyzed. The results are loaded onto the Blue Drop System, a Department of Water Affairs (DWA) initiative for compliance and regulatory performance monitoring. The analysis are Blue Drop Certified by DWA, meaning that a full audit trail from sampling to reporting are available and that accredited methods are used.
Clocolan Water Supply System
The Clocolan Water Treatment Works with a design capacity of 5.95 Mega liters per day, receive raw water for purification from the Moperi Dam and Meulspruit Dam outside Ficksburg.
Raw water gravitate from the Moperi Dam to the inlet sump and then pumped to the Treatment Works. Raw water from Meulspuit Dam is pumped through a 27km pipeline to a balancing dam outside Clocolan and then gravitate to the WTW. Both raw water sources combine at the point of aluminum based poly-electrolyte coagulant dosage. The chemical dosed water flow through a flocculation channel to the two sedimentation tanks where the colloidal matter are separated from the water.
The supernatant water then flow to the 6 rapid gravity sand filters for further removal of unwanted matter. The filtered water is then dosed with chlorine gas to kill harmful bacteria. The final treated water is then pumped to the 3 Reservoirs at Makuadi Hill with a total capacity of 4.45 Mega liters. From the reservoirs, the water flow into the distribution network for community use. The Clocolan Water Treatment Works supply potable water to 23180 residents.
Operational monitoring on the quality of potable water supplied to the communities are carried out. On a monthly basis, water samples are collected and send for analysis to the in-house laboratory at the Ficksburg Water Treatment Works.
Marquard Water Supply System
The Marquard Water Treatment Works with a design capacity of 3.16 Mega liters per day, receive raw water for purification from the Laaispruit and New Hope Dam.
Raw water from both sources are pumped to the Treatment Works. Raw water sources combine at the point of lime and aluminum based poly-electrolyte coagulant dosage. The chemical dosed water flow through a flocculation channel to the two sedimentation tanks where the colloidal matter are separated from the water. The supernatant water then flow to the 2 rapid gravity sand filters for further removal of unwanted matter.
The filtered water is then dosed with chlorine gas to kill harmful bacteria. The final treated water is then pumped to the 4 Reservoirs and 1 pressure tower in Marquard with a total capacity of 5.85 Mega liters. From the reservoirs, the water flow into the distribution network for community use. The Marquard Water Treatment Works supply potable water to 21386 residents.
Operational monitoring on the quality of potable water supplied to the communities are carried out. On a monthly basis, water samples are collected and send for analysis to the in-house laboratory at the Ficksburg Water Treatment Works.
Senekal Water Supply System
Senekal consists of three Water Treatment Plants; De Put, New Cyferfontein and Old Cyferfontein with a total design capacity of 9.0 Mega liters per day. Du Put receive raw water from De Put Dam and the two Cyferfontein plants receive water from the Sand River and Cyferfontein Catchment Dam.
Raw water is pumped from the various sources to the different plants. The raw water at all the plants is dosed with lime and an aluminum based poly-electrolyte coagulant. The chemical dosed water flow through flocculation channels to sedimentation tanks where the colloidal matter are separated from the water.
The supernatant water then flow to rapid gravity sand filters for further removal of unwanted matter. The filtered water is then dosed with chlorine gas to kill harmful bacteria. The final treated water from the two Cyferfontein Plants is pumped to the 3 Reservoirs outside Senekal through a pipeline approximately 15km long. The final water from the De Put plant is also pumped to the same 3 reservoirs with a total capacity of 10 Mega liters. From the reservoirs, the water flow into the distribution network for community use. The Senekal supply system supply potable water to 34181 residents.
Operational monitoring on the quality of potable water supplied to the communities are carried out. On a monthly basis, water samples are collected and send for analysis to the in-house laboratory at the Ficksburg Water Treatment Works.
