ICT distributor Mustek donated four solar- powered water-recycling toilets, installed by green sanitation company Smartsan, to the Orefile Primary School, in Olievenhoutbosch, near Midrand, Gauteng, earlier this month as part of its corporate social initiative for education.

Orefile Primary School is the first green school in Gauteng.

The toilets, which were constructed using ‘green’ cement and environment-friendly amoriguard paint, have a South African intellectual property licence.

“We chose the school because it is the greenest school in Gauteng. It uses solar water heating systems, recycles its water for irrigation purposes and was built using cementless concrete material,” said Mustek head of renewable energy Mike Cassidy at the launch.

Smartsan CEO Jurgen Graupe explained that the sanitation system used a combination of biological anaerobic processes and nanofiltration systems, which ensured that 100% of all dissolved contaminants, such as nitrates, nitrites and phosphates, had been removed from the filtered water.

“The disinfection property in the nanofilter ensures the destruction of any possible harmful pathogens in the filtered water, while the unique ventilation system cap ensures the removal of all possible odours.”

Graupe added that the recycling of the toilet flush water ensured flush waterborne sanitation without a municipal water connection to the toilet cistern, and that the cistern tank could accommodate rainwater.

“The nano (N)-series system has the capacity to serve up to 15 people per unit. The systems are labelled ‘N single’ and ‘N multiple’, depending on the number of households or, in this case, schools, connected to the unit. The N single unit is used for a single dwelling and has an elevated cistern-filling tank that fills the toilet cistern using gravity after the toilet has been flushed. The N multiple is fitted with a pressure pump to fill the toilet cisterns after the toilet has been flushed,” he elaborated.

Jurgen pointed out that the N-series system consisted of three reactor tanks and an elevated cistern-filling tank. The reactor tanks were configured one inside the other, with flow between the three tanks having to pass through a nanofilter assembly before entering the next tank.

He further noted that it was very simple and quick to install a unit. In areas where flooding was a problem, the unit could be installed above ground or even elevated above flood levels.