Richards Bay desalination plant officially up and running
SA's first portable seawater purification plant is now fully operational in Richards Bay
SOUTH Africa’s first portable desalination plant is running at full steam near Alkantstrand in Meerensee.
The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) last year contracted North Coast Water Utility, in partnership with New York-based solutions company RWL Water, to spearhead the ground-breaking development that effectively ends the City of uMhlathuze’s persistent water shortage woes.
It comprises 10 containers adjacent to the effluent treatment plant at Pelican Island in which salts and minerals ar removed from extracted seawater.
Ten megalitres of desalinated clean drinking water is then pumped to almost 20 reservoirs within the city, supplying the communities of Madlazini, Mereensee, Richards Bay CBD, eNseleni, eSikhaleni, Ngwelezana, KwaDlangezwa, Felixton and other surrounding areas.
Remaining brine will be flushed back into the ocean via the effluent pipeline.
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