The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the City of Tshwane (CoT) have embarked on a partnership that will see the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) implement the urgent upgrade of the dysfunctional Rooiwal wastewater treatment works (WWTW), in Hammanskraal, in Tshwane.

The project, which will break ground in September this year, with completion targeted for June 2026, emerges as Hammanskraal faces a cholera outbreak that has led to the death of dozens of residents and the hospitalisation of many more.

While the source of the cholera outbreak has not been determined as yet, the Rooiwal WWTW, having reached capacity, has been polluting the Apies river over the past few years, to such an extent that the Temba water treatment works (WTW), which extracts water from the Apies river-fed Leeukraal dam, has been unable to clean the water heading to consumers in Hammanskraal to a suitable standard.

The full upgrade and rehabilitation of the works will cost R4-billion, and the project will be undertaken in three stages, with several short-term interventions to be put in place until the project is completed, says DWS director-general Dr Sean Phillips.

The process of appointing the DBSA as the implementing agent has been initiated, as well as the development of detailed technical plans for the repairs and upgrades, including scoping the project stages and tender specifications for the first stage.

To start the long overdue project, CoT mayor Councillor Cilliers Brink says that R450-million has been approved and allocated – over a three year period – from the city’s Urban Settlements Development Grant.

To secure the balance of the funds required, a partnership has been entered into with the DWS and the DBSA.

A financial team has been formed among the parties to finalise and secure the funding and contracts, with discussions under way with the National Treasury and the DBSA, which will be the implementing agent.

The optimal financial structure will be communicated once concluded, but it could possibly be in the form of a DBSA loan or bridging finance, or sourcing funds from other grants.

The major project will have short-term interventions and medium-term phases which will resolve the treatment challenges by mid-2026.

In the short term, improved wastewater technology will be installed at Rooiwal between August 2023 and March 2024 to treat the sewerage better and increase the quality of the effluent discharged into the Apies river.

In an effort to improve drinking water quality in the fastest possible time, Magalies Water will, starting from July, install a potable water ‘packaged plant’ at its Klipdrift WTW near Hammanskraal to feed into Hammanskraal’s piped water distribution system and ensure clean water supply.

There is an existing connection between the works and the piped water distribution system in Hammanskraal.

The 30 mℓ/d to 40 mℓ/d plant will be installed in phases, in increments of 10 mℓ/d capacity, with full completion expected by March 2024, by which time residents of Hammanskraal will be provided with sufficient drinking water from their taps and the city will be able to temporarily stop supplying residents with water from the Temba WTW until the quality meets drinkable standards again.

In the interim, carefully monitored water tankers will continue supply at designated water filling points until the packaged plant is in place.