Municipality planning to buy purification trucks

The metro is planning to buy a fleet of mobile water purification units that will help Nelson Mandela Bay to tackle water supply challenges, infrastructure political head Andile Lungisa said yesterday.

Lungisa said this new fleet of 20,000l trucks would be part of the metro’s efforts to counter water supply problems in the metro, with a range of other initiatives it had already taken.

The metro was already working with Eskom to raise the utility’s awareness of the problems caused by load-shedding in the filling of reservoirs and it was hoped that this engagement would bear fruit, he said.

At the same time smart water meters were being installed and pipelines were being repaired.

Old pipes were being replaced with PVC. 

Infrastructure on the Gariep-Nooitgedacht system was being fixed.

Lungisa said the water purification trucks would be capable of processing water from rivers, dams and the sea.

“We will use them where necessary to fill our reservoirs.”

The trucks had not yet been purchased, but this was the intent, he said.

The Herald also asked Lungisa about the barge that was needed to extract water from the depleted Impofu Dam,  and why this vessel had not been procured although the metro had known about the situation since August, as the DA charged.

He said a tender process to procure the barge was under way.

On the R200m disaster fund grant received from the department of water in December, Lungisa said spending was being held up by an objection raised by the department about one of the service providers on a project earmarked for funding from the grant.