MechChem Africa January-February 2022

Water reuse and ecological transformation

MechChemAfrica talks to Miles Murray, director of business development for Veolia Services SouthernAfrica (VSSA), about water reuse and the local roleVeolia is playing in delivering on the global Group’s core purposes, ecological transformation and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

up this water reuse project frombeing purely about industrial water provisioning to being a full-on reuse project toprovide potablewater and sanitation to the municipality,” he says. In principle, he says, the current project is probably only twomembrane-based process - es short of being able to produce potable wa - ter. “We simply need to add an ultra-filtration (UF) and a reverse osmosis (RO) treatment process to produce drinking water compliant with SA’s SANS 241 standard,” he informs MechChem Africa. “We remaindetermined toensure that this flagship project remains successful and con - tinues to fly the Veolia brand. We will, there - fore, doeverything inourpower toensure that

it continues to run smoothly,” he adds. Globally, to promote ecological trans - formation across the planet, Veolia’s first priority is to implement as many of the UN’s SDGs as possible, and 13 of these goals are being explicitly targeted. “This means that everything we do is aligned to these long- termobjectives andwewill never allowshort term gains to tarnish our brand. Veolia is a truly international entity that is committed to protecting the future for our children’s children,” Murray says. “This is not all about delivering advanced technologies. Ourmandate is to also focus on employment, for example, which is another of theSDGs. Sohere inSouthAfrica, we continu -

“W e spent thefirstweekof 2022preparing tenders for ongoingwater reuse projects, in anticipation of their renewable and possible expansion,” beginsMilesMurrayofVeoliaServices South - ern Africa (VSSA). One of Veolia’s historic flagship projects hasbeen treatingwastewater andsupplying it for reuse to local industries inKwaZulu-Natal for the past 20 years. The project was one of the firstwater related public private partner - ship (PPP) of its kind and the first to adopt a newcontractual model for financing new infrastructure. The municipal owner

didn’t have tofind theupfront capital to get the project up and running, and the project is estimated to have freeduppotablewater for use by 400 000 people in the

area, while actually reduc - ing the need for municipal investment in new water treatment infrastructure in the area. The private industries

using the water benefit - ted from a saving of 52% in water tariffs by reduc - ing the amount of potable municipal water consumed; the municipality and the local community benefitted from the freeing up of scarce potable resources for human use; and the municipality be - came known as an early adopt - er of sustainable water-resource development. “We are currently still contracted to ‘sell’ high quality (nearly potable) water to manufacture fine paper, and refinery process water,”Murray tells MechChemAfrica, adding that the new tender includes the additional supply of potable water for the local com - munity. “This is very exciting.We are stepping

By embracing a shared and responsible approach for the benefit of the planet, society, its clients, employees and shareholders, Veolia’s core purpose is to deliver ecological transformation.

4 ¦ MechChem Africa • January-February 2022