Thembisile Hani Local Municipality – Bundu Water Treatment Works (WTW)

 

AGF: Autonomous Gravity Sand Filter

Client: Thembisile Hani Local Municipality – Bundu Water Treatment Works (WTW)
Industry: Municipal Potable Water
Region: Mpumalanga, South Africa
Product: 4 x AGF48SA – Autonomous Gravity Sand Filter – ±10 MLD
Installation: 2017

Challenge

  • Thembisile Hani Local Municipality (THLM) historically had little or no own potable water source and relied mainly on Rand Water and other Water Service Authorities
  • The Bundu 10 ML/d potable water treatment works addressed this risk and gave THLM its first own WTW. It strengthens supply to eastern settlements, creates a backbone for extensions, and sits alongside larger regional bulk schemes
  • During the design phase, process engineers sought rapid gravity filters that would ensure compliance with potable water standards for Turbidity and TSS.
  • They required:
    • easy installation
    • effective filtration
    • efficient filters
      • low maintenance and operating costs
      • zero electrical energy consumption
      • easy maintenance and operating functions
      • reliability over decades.

Application

  •  Final Filtration – Rapid Gravity Filters (polishing filters) at Potable Water Treatment Plant.

Solution

  • Easy Installation
    • Minimum civil works on site:
      • Filters are manufactured off-site under ISOcertified quality management systems
      • Filters are transported to site and installed in place with limited mechanical assembly.
  • Effective filtration
    • Autonomous hydraulic backwashing maintains optimum filter bed condition
    • This ensures consistently high suspended solids removal and filtrate quality that meets the required acceptance standard.
  • Efficient filters
    • Low Maintenance- and Operating Costs
      • No peripheral equipment (backwash pumps, controllers, compressors or blowers) required
      • Zero Electrical Energy Consumption
        • Gravity flow through the filters
        • Complete Autonomous Function
      • Easy Maintenance and Operating Functions
        • Maintaining the integrity of the mechanical structure and periodic replacement of nozzles and media
        • Human Intervention is limited to periodic maintenance inspections.
  • Reliability
    • No moving or rotating components
    • No peripheral components
    • 35+ year track record of installed continuously operating units.
  • 4 x AGF48SA autonomous rapid gravity filters were installed.

Results

  • Easy and rapid installation and commissioning
  • The filters were fully installed over a 2-day period. Commissioning took place in December 2018
  • For the initial 12-month period, the filters operated under direct filtration whilst the pre-treatment section of the plant was constructed
  • Since commissioning, the AGF filters consistently deliver filtrate in compliance with the acceptance standard (SANS 241, Drinking Water)
  • In 2023, the Bundu water-treatment works (WTW) received the second-highest score for the performance of WTWs in Mpumalanga in the Blue Drop report, at 88%
  • The report describes the plant as being “in secure and excellent condition”.
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