Water, Sewage & Effluent March April 2019 | Page 18

The early projects
In October 2008, an invitation from a
district municipality (DM) in the Eastern
Cape province to debate “Wastewater
Treatment – Appropriate Technology
Choices”, stated:
“As part of the DM’s commitment
to providing sustainable sanitation
services to our people, the Mayoral
Committee instructed the Engineering
Department to investigate the
viability of implementing High-Rate
Algal Ponding (IAPS) technology, as
an alternative to activated sludge
wastewater treatment. The potential
advantages of High-Rate Algal
Ponding technology over activated
sludge are lower capital costs,
lower operating and maintenance
costs and less vulnerability to
mechanical failure. In addition, the
technology has been developed with
downstream employment creation
opportunities in mind.”
The 2008 invitation was the result of
a tender process for upgrade of the
Bedford WWTW and the debate was
hosted in East London. The outcome was
moot while perceived risks associated
with IAPS as a standalone technology
led the DM to abandon the project. To
our knowledge there has been no further
effort to upgrade or improve treatment
efficiency at the Bedford WWTW.
Some two years earlier, the United
Nations Environmental Programme:
Addressing Land-based Activities in
the Western Indian Ocean (UNEP-GEF
WIO-LaB Project) awarded sufficient
funds to establish an IAPS in the village
of Bushman’s River in the Eastern Cape.
By 2008 it was apparent that the local
municipality (LM) did not have the capacity
to support this project. In a communication
to the authors, the outcome of this project
was summarised as follows:
Quantification of the
synergy between IAPS as
a WWT technology and
food security remains
unknown and continues to
await implementation and
operation of a full-scale
demonstrator under South
African conditions.
16
“The Rhodes team suggested that
DEAT consider moving the funding
to another site in the Eastern Cape
(Hamburg) where the municipality
was extremely keen to host the demo
project. DEAT seemed very reluctant to
even consider this alternative which,
in the opinion of the Rhodes team,
would have been a success. Despite
promises to inform the Rhodes team
of any decisions, we have not been
contacted by DEAT although months
have passed since our last discussions.
I was, however, informed … that DEAT
would not consider moving the project
to the alternative site for political
reasons and that if we didn't establish
the pilot facility at Bushman’s River
then the project would be terminated.
Although we have not had any formal
communication from DEAT to this
effect, we believe that the WIO-LaB
project has been terminated.”
In 2010, the Dutch agency Partners
for Water (PfW) awarded funding to a
consortium represented by DHV (now
Royal HaskoningDHV) with SSI, EBRU,
and Makana LM as South African partners
for the project “Demonstration Project for
the Integral Algae Ponding System (IAPS)
for Wastewater Treatment”. Project start
was scheduled for April 2011 with the
aim of creating a business partnership to
strengthen the international position of
the members as suppliers of sustainable
wastewater treatment solutions based on
algae; that is, IAPS.
The project objective was to demonstrate
the
robustness
and
sustainable
characteristics of IAPS and to establish
whether effluent requirements in South
Africa can indeed be achieved. Measurable
objectives were to have included:
• Increased wastewater treatment
capacity for the LM by at least
2 500 PE (person equivalents);
• Production of 4.5ML/d water for
irrigation or infiltration;
• Demonstrate energy consumption
of IAPS to be <10kWh/y/PE
compared to 25kWh/y/PE for
activated sludge (AS);
• Show construction costs for a 2ML/d
IAPS to be <30% that of a 2ML/d AS
plant;
• Produce 5 000–7 500kg algae-based
fertilizer; and
• Promote algae-based wastewater
treatment technology to at least
50 municipalities in first year of
operation.
Signature to a memorandum of
agreement that included a feasibility
Water Sewage & Effluent March/April 2019
study, detailed cost projections,
business plan, and statement of
ownership was to signal commitment
by the LM and proper start of the
project. While the project proceeded to
‘preliminary design’, most unfortunately,
the LM partner withdrew due to an
apparent inability to meet commitments.
In the close-out report drafted in 2013,
Royal HaskoningDHV stated:
“With the assistance of the Embassy
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
(EKN) in Pretoria, the South African
Department of Water Affairs
(DWA) was approached. DWA
communicated with the Municipality
and established two issues. Firstly,
the key contact persons within the
Municipality had recently left the
organisation, which may have been
cause of the poor communication.
Secondly, the Municipality had not
budgeted the co-payment and was
not willing to commit in the absence
of secured funds.”
Because the above situation had arisen
within a year of award of funding,
DHV together with its South African
partners decided to explore other
potential end users in an effort to realise
a commercial demonstration IAPS.
Following deliberations on several
possible locations, a memorandum
of agreement for implementation of a
demonstration IAPS was signed between
EBRU (representing the association) and
the University of Fort Hare (UFH), who
operated and managed the Alice WWTW.
This was followed by preparation of a
second preliminary design, which was
necessary due to a change in location
and due to specific requirements
related to UFH’s wider programme for
recovery and utilisation of the various
waste streams. However, the change
of project location, the need to prepare
a second preliminary design, specific
host requirements, and time lapse all
contributed to an escalation in overall
project cost. In short, the project partner
and host required additional funding to
realise an IAPS that suited their specific
needs. Even so, and given the added
financial pressures, it was decided to
implement an IAPS that would meet both
UFH’s minimum requirements and those
for project demonstration. The IAPS
could then easily be upgraded to meet
the full requirement once additional
funding became available. Due diligence
at this juncture, however, indicated
that very complex implementation
conditions had emerged together with
an associated high risk of additional
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