Sun International’s GrandWest Casino and Entertainment World, in Cape Town, has constructed a water purification plant to treat borehole water to potable standards, change its water supply mix and become less reliant on water from public resources.

The R18-million plant draws water from four groundwater wells, delivering up to ten-million litres of potable water a month treated through iron removal, sand filtration and reverse osmosis and stripping.

In addition to making more water available to the City of Cape Town as the property goes off the municipal water grid, the plant will also prove cost effective for GrandWest, with a return on investment within 28 months.

“The cost of potable water is currently R50 a kilolitre on the Level 6 commercial tariff associated with Level 6 water consumption restrictions, compared with R9.20 a kilolitre from the treatment facility,” says GrandWest GM Mervyn Naidoo.

The initiative started in February 2017, when the casino investigated feasible alternatives to using potable water, which was followed shortly thereafter by a memorandum of agreement between GrandWest and the City of Cape Town to ensure that all water quality specifications and legal requirements were met.

The geohydrological measurements for the boreholes started in May 2017 and the plant produced its first purified water a year later, on May 15, 2018, says GrandWest engineering manager Johan Gelderblom.

The water is stored in a 400 000 ℓ holding tank and later pumped to the main water reservoir by an ultraviolet ray generator unit, which stops bacteria and further purifies the water.

“The hospitality and entertainment industry was particularly hard hit by the effects of the unprecedented drought, but, since implementing water-saving measures, GrandWest has used almost 50% less potable water,” says Naidoo.

“Thankfully, our 2018 rainfall is higher than last year; however, the severity of the situation has taught us the importance of having access to alternative resources.”

The casino plans to apply to its use of borehole-provided water the same Level 6B restrictions that apply to its use of municipally supplied potable water, as underground water is not an unlimited resource and its management is critical.

Regular tests are undertaken to ensure that the water quality complies with drinking water standards as laid down by the city.

“GrandWest shows that there is a solid business case to be made for adapting operations to ensure that we futureproof our businesses and our city in light of the continuing impact that climate change is expected to have on us,” adds City of Cape Town mayoral committee member for informal settlements, water and waste services and energy Councillor Xanthea Limberg.

GrandWest partnered with construction company Mikulu Construction, assisted by Aquest Colsen, for the construction of the plant.

Other water-saving initiatives applied by the group include the removal of bath plugs from all bathrooms; the fitment of water flow reducers to shower heads and basins fitted with faucet aerators; the locking of nonessential back-of-house water faucets; setting urinal flushes to their lowest levels; and the shutting down of taps in the public facilities and all water fountains on complex.

Further, bed linen and towels are only changed on request; hand sanitisers have been implemented in public facilities; the gardens are watered by treated greywater supplied directly from the municipal sewer treatment, recycled water from the ice station and nonpotable water; and many plant beds have been converted into waterwise plant beds.