Water, Sewage & Effluent Mar Vol 30 No 2 | Page 28

T

he advantages of using pre-cast elements in
construction have been well-documented.
Quality is improved significantly considering that
manufacturing these components is undertaken in a
controlled factory environment, as opposed to them
being built on-site and being exposed to variable
weather.
In addition, safety is improved significantly on
builds, but the main advantages of using pre-cast
concrete on construction is the ability to fast-track
productivity significantly. This is a great boon,
especially on water projects in South Africa, and the
main reason for the professional team opting to build
part of the important Mafenya Reservoir in the North
West Province, South Africa, from pre-cast items.
The reservoir forms part of the first phase of the
Pilanesberg South Bulk Water Supply Scheme, and
will eventually accommodate two more pump stations.
This is being funded by both government and the
platinum mining companies Maseve Investments and
Wesizwe Platinum, on behalf of the end user,
Magalies Water.
Moedi wa Batho Consulting Engineers and Project
Managers is involved in the Pilanesberg South Bulk
Water Supply Scheme on behalf of Magalies Water.
The scheme is sub-divided into the follwoing:

Phase 1
•
•
•
•

Pipeline – Sun City Station to Mafenya
reservoir site – 15km
Pipeline – Mafenya new reservoir site to Sun
City road – 8km
Pipeline – Evergreen to Sun City Station –
27km, and
the Mafenya Reservoir

Phase 2
•
•

Pipeline from the Mafenya reservoir to
Thlabane – 30km
Two reservoirs (100Mℓ in Phokeng and 20Mℓ
in Thlabane)

Phase 3
•

“The reservoir has an
internal wall, and naturally
has an inlet and outlet; it is a
double reservoir, but with the
inner wall going about 40%
of the way up to height of the
outer wall,” he says.

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Water Sewage & Effluent March/April 2016

The expansion of the scheme eastwards
covering the Moses Kotane jurisdiction is a
combination of groundwater and piped water.

These water schemes are all being dealt with in
similar innovative designs and methodology, which is
quickly becoming characteristic of Moedi wa Batho’s
“out-of-the-box” initiatives.
Construction of the Mafenya reservoir is supervised
by DRA. M&D Construction is the contractor. This
is the company’s fourth reservoir, having previously
constructed a 3 megalitre (Mℓ), a 3,4Mℓ and a 15Mℓ
resevoir, but where the scale of this project dwarfs
those earlier ones significantly. M&D Construction