OPTIMISATION OF OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE PRACTICES OF SMALL WATER TREATMENT PLANTS IN LIMPOPO AND MPUMALANGA PROVINCES

Operation and maintenance (O&M) problems cut across al l types and sizes of water treatment plants in South Africa because of various reasons ranging from institutional arrangements to actual operation of the works. The aim of the research project was to optimise the operation and maintenance of two small water treatment plants in Limpopo and apply the lessons learned to the other small treatment plants in Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The research involved going to the two identified small water treatment plants (for the purpose of this study they were labelled Plant A and B) in Limpopo province to evaluate the process units from the raw water abstraction to final treated water that is then reticulated into the consumers. There were major problems identified in Plant A; ranging from cracked rapid sand filters, inadequate raw water source(dries up during winter),unattended or long response times to defective items reported by operators. In Plant B problems range from old and clogged fi lter media in the pressure sand fi lters, wrongly or inappropriate instal lations of dosing pipes, installation of an additional package plant which its parts and maintenance technicians are not locally available (imported from Brazil), connection of two clear water tanks by a pipe without valve in between for control purposes.. Both Plants A and B had poor budgeting for operation and maintenance and the Process Control lers were not motivated to do their work due to lack of proper management and control. After identifying all problems and prioritising them, recommendations were made to the management of the respective small water treatment plants for action