The Kouga local municipality, in the Eastern Cape, has upgraded its St Francis Bay wastewater treatment works (WWTW) from a capacity of 750 m3/d to 2 000 m3/d.
The upgrades, which started in February 2018 and were completed in February this year, included the refurbishment of the existing works – as well as the upgrade of the sludge-handling capacity to accommodate the increase in sludge volumes.
The newly upgraded plant, which serves the growing communities of St Francis Bay, Cape St Francis and Sea Vista and will cater for future development in the area, ensures that effluent being discharged from the WWTW complies with the relevant standards.
The plant has been operating since 1995 and has undergone two previous upgrades.
“Prentec constructed the original plant back in 1995, with two subsequent upgrades in capacity in 2000 and 2007,” says Prentec MD Stewart Buchanan, noting that the company was appointed as the main contractor on the latest project and was responsible for the design and construction of the plant.
The upgraded plant was designed by Prentec process director Martin Pryor and senior process engineer Kathy Visentin.
Appointed consulting engineers for the project, SRK Consulting designed and implemented the upgrading of the WWTW including the additional infrastructure to meet the increased volumetric and organic loading of the works. The two-year project was split into three portions, with the scope of work including the installation of two sequential batch reactors (SBRs), with floating aerator, inlet, decant, desludging pipework and sludge drying beds say Prentec project manager Duncan Klinkert.
SRK Contributor:
Tiaan Claassen
