Civil Engineering October 2022 | Vol 30 No 9

T he town of Bloemhof is situated in the Lekwa-Teemane Local Municipality in the North West province. It has some of the oldest water infrastructure in South Africa, with the main water pipelines constructed in the early 80s using asbestos material, with a life expectancy of about 15 to 20 years. Maintaining this water network is costly, and replacement material is a challenge as asbestos pipe material is no longer manufactured due to health and environmental concerns. A number of people in Bloemhof have died from drinking contaminated water, and the area has experienced prolonged unrest. The Bloemhof Water Treatment Works (WTW) upgrade will increase the plant’s capacity from 15 Mℓ/day to 25 Mℓ/day and is being constructed by the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Construction Unit on behalf of the implementing agent, Dr Ruth S Mompati District Municipality. PROJECT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The project aims to increase capacity, supply, and storage facilities for the communities of Bloemhof and Schweizer Reneke. The existing Bloemhof WTW will be extended by constructing: Q Q A 10 Mℓ/day WTW that includes Q Q High-rate settlers Q Q Clear water tank and high lift pump station Q Q Secondary flocculation channels Q Q Dissolved air floatation units Q Q Sand filters Q Q Wash water, supernatant tanks and recycle pump station Q Q Sludge drying beds Q Q Turbo clarifier Q Q Air blower room Q Q A 5 Mℓ reservoir Q Q 1200 m of 355 mm and 400 mm oPVC parallel pipeline. About 150 local workers, both unskilled and semi-skilled, have benefited from the project through training and employment. This includes local SMMEs who benefited from rental of staff houses, supply of mate- rial and subcontracting within the project. The project costs R110 741 391.01 and is 97% complete. CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS Since the contractor is a government entity, some of the challenges come from red tape within the procurement system. The main challenges experienced on the project relate to procurement of material, excessive rainfall, as well as community and labour unrest. In expediting procurement of mate- rial, several cession agreements were made to fast track the project, including subcontracting to local SMMEs. Several supply chain management (SCM) training sessions were delivered to empower local suppliers to meet the departmental supply chain standards. Open term contract and SCM delegation must be in place to reduce procurement on projects. A High Court interdict was also awarded to defuse labour unrest. CONCLUSION South Africa has a huge backlog of bulk water supply infrastructure development. It is projects like this that aim to address this problem going forward and add new methods or ideas along the way, in the pursuit of ensuring that our people have clean and adequate water supply.  Upgrading the Bloemhof Water Treatment Works Glenn Matome Kamela Site Agent Department of Water and Sanitation kamelag@dws.gov.za The Bloemhof Water Treatment Works, which forms part of the Greater Mamusa Regional Bulk Water Supply Scheme, is being upgraded with the addition of a 10 Mℓ/day module to increase supply to the town of Bloemhof in the North West. Bloemhof WTW construction site 26 October 2022  Civil Engineering