Mangaung Metro Municipality Gariep Dam Gariep Dam
The challenge with bulk supply is that it takes years of planning, lead time, political will, and significant capital outlay to bring it into fruition.
One of the solutions proposed to address Bloemfontein’ s imminent water crisis is the construction of a pipeline from Gariep Dam to Bloemfontein.
Mangaung Metro Municipality
The ageing Maselspoort Water Treatment Works is being upgraded with new technology to ensure improved quality drinking water to Bloemfontein.
of high siltation rates. The minimal storage capacity of the Welbedacht Dam implies that the Tienfontein pumps must operate at a high reliability on a run-of-river basis to supply the Knellpoort Dam.
The current pumps have a total discharge of approximately 2.5m 3 / s( designed for 3m 3 / s) and have experienced high maintenance costs because of fine debris and sediment that reach the pumps— a direct outcome of the silted dam.
Tienfontein Pump Station is seen as the most critical component of the water supply infrastructure supplying Bloemfontein with raw water, as the water utility receives 70 % of its water supply from the silted Welbedacht Dam( via Tienfontein Pump Station and Knellpoort Dam).
The incremental growth in demand as the population expands, coupled with ageing infrastructure and severe supply challenges stemming from the silted Welbedacht Dam in the Caledon River and the smaller Knellpoort and Rustfontein dams in the Modder River, highlight the indisputable need for long-term supply solutions.
Short-term demand addressed within municipality
The DWS compiled a Water reconciliation strategy study for the large bulk water supply systems: greater Bloemfontein Area to investigate the balance between water supply and demand for the metro for the next 20 years.
The report highlighted the need for several short-term upgrades of Bloem Water’ s existing Welbedacht and Knellpoort / Rustfontein systems.
In addition, the report identified three long-term priority areas: high water losses in the MMM’ s water distribution system, the possible re-use of water by the networking contributor tech news industry environment infrastructure municipalities
Water Sewage & Effluent March / April 2017 15