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North West Business 2021-22

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OVERVIEW Water A

OVERVIEW Water A cross-provincial irrigation scheme is a national priority. SECTOR INSIGHT A Provincial Water Master Plan is delivering projects. Lush fields made possible by the huge Vaalharts-Taung Irrigation Scheme. Credit: Aurecon The revitalisation of the Vaalharts-Taung Water Irrigation Scheme will double the land available to emerging farmers, create more than 10 000 jobs during its implementation, resolve water shortages in local municipalities and provide certainty for producers of fresh produce. The project was gazetted as one of the Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) in July 2020 and falls under the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC). The existing Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme is one of the largest irrigation schemes in the world, covering 39 000ha under irrigation, and extending it to Taung in the North West will give it even greater reach. The scheme currently has 1 000km of concrete-lined canals and more than 300km of concrete drainage. The Vaalharts Water User Association is headquartered in Jan Kempdorp, a town in the Northern Cape right on the border of the North West and at the centre of the scheme’s area of operations. Infrastructure development company Bigen Group is engaged in the irrigation scheme upgrade and is also involved in treating and recycling water for mining companies in the province. At the Bafokeng Masimone mine local effluent resources are converted to a product which is suitable for a variety of mine-water applications. Municipalities Large infrastructure has been the focus of national and provincial initiatives in recent years. Municipalities are charged with delivering water and handling wastewater but many municipalities have not been equal to the task. Magalies Water is the Water Services Authority (WSA) serving two of the local municipalities in the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality, Moses Kotane and Rustenburg. It also supplies water to five mines in the province and is active in the provinces of Gauteng and Limpopo. When a crisis situation emerged in the neighbouring municipality of Madibeng (which includes the large manufacturing town of Brits), the National Minister of Water and Sanitation called on Magalies Water to tackle the problems. The Brits Water Treatment Plant was fixed and boreholes were dug to service rural areas. A new body has been formed to help municipalities deliver services. The Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) falls under the National Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and will assist municipalities to plan for, provide and maintain infrastructure. The first action of MISA was to commission 81 engineers and town planners. Municipalities in the North West have been instructed NORTH WEST BUSINESS 2021/22 32

OVERVIEW to submit specific plans to feed in to the Provincial Water Master Plan in an effort to get an overview of the sewerage and sanitation problems facing communities. Several projects have recently been completed. These include Dinokana Water Augmentation project, the Ganalaagte Boreholes and Sewer Pump Station Refurbishment project, the Naledi Water Augmentation Phase 1 and 2 projects and the Tshing Cent Fall Sewer Line project. Various wastewater treatment plants have been refurbished and the last phase of the Taung/Naledi Bulk Water Supply project was tackled in the second half of 2021. This will improve water supply to 55 villages in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality. Progress has been made towards supplying water to the 79 schools in the province which were identified as having inadequate water facilities. This includes the drilling of boreholes and construction of storage tanks. All new schools built in the North West are supplied with kitchens in line with the National Schools Nutrition Programme. The province has 83 sewage-treatment plants, and the national Blue Drop award system has found most of them need improvement. JB Marks Local Municipality, which has Potchefstroom as its main town, is one of only three municipalities in the country that acts as a water-service authority and as a service provider. It has won awards for its levels of service. The biggest service providers active in the North West are: • Rand Water. • Magalies Water. • Sedibeng Water (which has taken over the service area of Botshelo Water). • Midvaal Water Company, which supplies water to Matlosana (Klerksdorp). South Africa is a waterscarce country and water management is critical to economic planning. The western part of North West Province is particularly dry. In the eastern part of the province, national government has sent water tanks to some parts, and has upgraded the treatment plants upstream from the Hartbeespoort Dam. Three of South Africa’s six major catchment areas are located in the province: the Limpopo, the Orange and the Vaal. Within these catchment areas, only the Vaal River has a strong-enough flow to allow for significant amounts of water to be taken from it directly to support irrigation or industry. There are four watermanagement areas in the province, three of which are linked to the Vaal River. Water is imported into the provincial system through transfers between water basins. ■ Credit: Unsplash ONLINE RESOURCES Blue Drop Awards: www.ewisa.co.za National Department of Water and Sanitation: www.dwa.gov.za South African Association of Water Utilities: www.saawu.org.za Vaalharts Water Users Association: www.vaalhartswua.com Water Research Commission: www.wrc.org.za 33 NORTH WEST BUSINESS 2021/22

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