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PROJECT
<< Continued from page 39
By Dineo Phoshoko
The restaurant chain’s head office in Midrand also
has a factory where Nando’s sauces are produced.
The area experiences regular water cuts due to
maintenance or water shedding at times, which
affects production at the sauce factory. As a result,
Nando’s loses out on revenue, since production of
the sauces is not possible without water.
The factory initially had an 80 000ℓ backup water
system that was made up of eight 10 000ℓ JoJo tanks. It
had a temporary quick connection with a small pump in
a bypass. The factory needs massive amounts of water
for its production cycle, but the backup water system of
Nando’s was not ideal, as it did not meet the factory’s
water requirements and it was not a fully integrated
system. The system had tanks with a suction (the booster
pump) and then a supply, with both coming off valves
that needed to be manually turned on and off depending
on whether municipal or backup water was being used.
The water remained in the tanks and required crossover
every two days to get fresh water.
Nando’s approached Burgess and Partners Plumbing
Services for a sustainable backup water system that
would also use the eight JoJo tanks in the initial system.
Calculations were done, and it was determined that the
factory required a 240 000ℓ backup system. The system
would ensure ongoing production for at least one day, in
the event of a water cut.
With this information, Burgess designed a system that
incorporated four 40 000ℓ Roto tanks, which amounted
to 160 000ℓ. When combined with the initial eight
10 000ℓ tanks, this system would provide the factory
with the required 240 000ℓ of backup water supply.
ASSEMBLING THE NEW BACKUP WATER SYSTEM
To get the system up and running, a dedicated team
from Nando’s and Burgess collaborated on the project.
The team started by cutting into the existing municipal
supply that goes straight into the factory and diverted the
pipework with new galvanised pipework. The surrounding
area had to be excavated and connected to all the tanks.
Nando’s had designated an area close to the factory for
all 12 tanks to be installed. A concrete slab was built to
support the weight of all 12 tanks combined. Together,
the tanks weighed approximately 240 tonnes. As such, a
lot of concrete was used to build a reliable slab.
Once the concrete was dry and the tanks ready, two
booster pumps from HMS pumps were installed. All the
tanks were connected with pipework