Home WaterPARRA Water Update – 11 January 2022

PARRA Water Update – 11 January 2022

January 12, 2022| Water

PLEASE SEE A COPY OF THE LETTER ADDRESSED BY OUR CHAIRMAN MR DAWIE VAN WYK TO:

Acting Director Infrastructure
Municipal Manager
Ndlambe Municipality

on 12 January 2022

Port Alfred Water Report

  1. Introduction

After some scathing uninformed Social Media Reports the Port Alfred Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association requested a visit to the Sarel Hayward Dam and the Pumps Stations 1 and 2. The Municipal Manager and the Acting Director Infrastructure kindly arranged a site visit on the 11th of January 2022. Present were a number of Ndlambe officials an ANC Ward Councillor and the DA Ward 10 Councillor. General impressions were excellent. The water was still running over the full length of the weir at a depth about 0.5 m and the Pump Stations were clean and well maintained. The general sites were all clean and litter free. On a visit early in 2020 the Pumps Stations were a complete mess, full of leaking pumps and old rusting motors and pumps lying in the water. Litter was strewn all over the site. This has all been cleared up and the general impression was that the Municipality have their hands all over these facilities.

 

The Weir over flowing

Pumps running in Pump Station No 2

Pumps Station No1 Surface Pumps

  1. Pumps Station No 1

The Pumps Station has four pumps, two submersible and two surface pumps. One Surface pump was running, the second one was running but has been stopped as it needs some spare parts. One submersible pump is running the other needs to be brought to surface and inspected to see why it is not running. The two pumps that are running have more than enough capacity to send water to Sarel Hayward Dam and the Balancing Dam/Nemato Water Works. There are plans to install a third surface pump and a change in the pipe configuration to increase the volume of water pumped to the Sarel Hayward Dam.

  1. Pumps Station No 2

This Pumps Station also has four pumps. Three were running effectively. The fourth pump has been sent for a service as it stood for a long time during the drought and needs to be serviced.

Currently it appears that the ratio of water being pumped to the Sarel Hayward Dam and the Balancing dam in a ratio of 40:60.

Water being pumped into Sarel Hayward Dam through the third inlet valve

Water being pumped into the Balancing Dam

  1. General Comments:
  • The general housekeeping safety etc. has improved dramatically.

Previous state of Pump Station No 2 (November 2020)

  • Could PARRA have a timeline on when the three pumps out of commission will be operational?
  • The volume of water being pumped into the Sarel Hayward Dam needs to be increased dramatically. Currently the water is still below Inlet Valve No 3 (about 5% full). It must be noted until the level reached Inlet Valve 3 water cannot be pumped from the Dam.
  • The Telemetry is non-functional and must be fixed immediately.
  • PARRA should get weekly reports on the status and water production figures including levels of the Sarel Hayward Dam and the Balancing Dam. Weekly production volumes from Boreholes, 2 ML RO Plant production and the 1 ML RO Plant production should also be reported. The weekly volume of water flowing into and out of the Nemato Water Treatment Plant should also be made available. If these weekly reports are issued the incorrect information being posted on Social Media will stop.
  • The Port Alfred reticulation system is extremely complicated and very few people actually understand the whole system. PARRA noticed that the Consultant currently helping with the water issues appears to be extremely competent and knows exactly how to increase the volume of water that can be pumped into the Sarel Hayward Dam.
  • There is no security fencing around these two pump stations and needs to be fixed urgently.

 

 

 

PARRA Chairperson
David van Wyk
12/1/2022

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