The wastewater pond system will also
prevent environmental hazards, and
a cut-off drain has been installed to
prevent groundwater contamination.
“Although there is no requirement
to design and construct the milking
parlour in accordance with quality
standards SANS 204 and SANS
10400,” he points out, “the principles
of energy-efficient design will be
applied to all building services –
in case of changes to future
compliance requirements.”
Extensive mechanical and electrical
services are required to ensure a fully
functional dairy, as a large range of
equipment including compressors, a
vacuum pump, heat exchangers and
heat pumps, hot water storage, and
chillers are required. Various pumps
outside the building have been
installed to ensure water – domestic,
chilled, and recycled – is available
across the facility. SRK appointed CA
Water Sewage & Effluent November/December 2017
11
contributor
this activity is normally stored in
a large earth pond and allowed to
evaporate. However, our ground-
breaking innovation allows the dairy
to save 30 000 litres of water a day by
re-using effluent to clean the external
concrete areas around the dairy.”
This, says Meiring, is achieved by
piping wastewater from the dairy’s
washing operations to a series of
primary and secondary ponds. These
ponds function anaerobically to
allow the settlement and digestion of
organic material while clear effluent
(without solids) will overflow to the
wash water pond for reuse.
“An integrated pipe network allows
solids to settle before the water
flows to the wash water pond,” he
says. “The system will probably
only need maintenance after about
15 years, after which a partial
de-commissioning will be required to
undertake maintenance.”
new dairy reaches full production, its
output will expand to over six million
litres of milk a year, which will be sold
to dairy giant Parmalat.
Contracted to manage the
construction of the new project, SRK
Consulting (South Africa) is ensuring
that it is not just technically top-class
but also environmentally responsible.
Health, hygiene, and cleanliness are
clearly items at the top of any dairy’s
list of success factors, and plenty of
water is usually necessary to keep
such a facility spotless.
“The dairy uses about 50m 3 of
water daily from a nearby borehole
to clean milking equipment and the
concrete hardstand,” says Marinus
Meiring, associate partner at SRK
Consulting. According to Meiring,
various water reticulation systems
are in place enabling the dairy to
be cleaned twice a day – after each
milking cycle. “Wastewater from
Sludge and wash water ponds prior to commissioning.
Note rehabilitated slopes and embankments.