The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate is calling on manufacturers, farmers, schools, golf courses, sports fields, parks and other recreational facilities, to consider using treated effluent as an alternative water source for non-potable use. Treated effluent can help reduce water bills when used as a direct substitute for tap water in manufacturing processes, irrigation and construction. Not only will customers enjoy the cost-saving benefits, but they will also make a significant contribution to Cape Town’s water-wise mission.
Treated effluent is wastewater that goes through a rigorous treatment process at the Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) to remove contaminants, so that the output can be safely deposited into the natural environment.
The City produces treated effluent from nine WWTWs and makes it accessible through 31 draw-off points and nine collection points across Cape Town.
The Water and Sanitation Directorate also distributes treated effluent directly to customers through a 250km pipe network, servicing more than 330 connections city-wide.
Substituting tap water for treated effluent for all non-potable purposes is a smart choice for businesses looking to save costs. It can safely be used in many ways, such as dust control during road construction, maintaining grassed fields and in some industrial processes. The City itself uses treated effluent to irrigate parks and recreational facilities.
‘More importantly, it remains a priority for the City to ensure that Cape Town makes strides towards building resilience in water supply for years to come. While we invest in our New Water Programme to add an extra 300 million litres of potable water to the network by 2030, we also need to adopt practices as a community which can help manage water consumption.
‘All of us have an opportunity to help look after our valuable water resources and need to get into a culture of being water-wise, regardless of the status of the dams or the season. One way of doing this is to promote the use of treated effluent as a viable alternative, where possible. To facilitate this, the City is constantly expanding this network to allow access to more customers,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
How to access treated effluent for your operations
Treated effluent can be collected at one of the 31 draw-off points on the treated effluent network. Customers may collect treated effluent by hiring a metered stand-pipe and accessing it at the draw-off.
What are the costs associated with treated effluent?
The cost of treated effluent differs when the user installs their own infrastructure, compared to when the City provides the infrastructure.
See table below for the detailed cost structure for the 2023/2024 financial year:
|
Customer type |
Infrastructure provided by the City per kl (including VAT) |
Infrastructure provided by user per kl (including VAT) |
|
Commercial/ Industrial/ Domestic users |
R8,64 |
R2,96 |
|
Schools |
R7,55 |
R2,96 |
|
Golf Clubs |
R7,55 |
R2,96 |
|
Irrigation (Agricultural irrigation schemes & bulk supply with a minimum of 5 mega litres/day) |
N/A |
R2,96 |
About the treated effluent application process
· Interested users can request a temporary or permanent application form by emailing Treated.Effluent@capetown.gov.za.
· All supporting documents must be provided with the completed application form to successfully process each application.
· Once submitted, the application is reviewed and feedback will be provided to the applicant.
· It must be noted that treated effluent infrastructure will not be provided to individual residential households to eliminate the risk of cross-connection.
