Before the installation, the village's 1 596 people had no access to running water and travelled a distance of 6km to the Umzimvubu River, South Africa's third largest river, to collect water for their daily requirements. The Ministry of Water Affairs became aware of the villagers' plight and tasked the Development of Sustainable Technologies and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research respectively to find a solution to the problem. As the village is surrounded by mountains and has no access to electricity, solar energy was recommended for this site.
"For the first time the villagers will have access to clean water without having to travel long distances with buckets," says Ntsumbeni Mavhungu, FNB marketing director Industrial Division. "The clean drinking water will help to considerably improve the villagers' living conditions and will prevent the spread of diseases."
The complete solar system - 40 solar panels, charge controllers, inverters and 12 batteries - was supplied by FNB. The batteries used are the M-Solar deep cycle batteries manufactured by FNB in East London, and widely used in most solar applications in South Africa. The reason for selecting the M-Solar batteries is that these robust batteries last longer and require minimal maintenance. The power supply from the batteries is inverted to 220v to power the water treatment works.
Raw water is pumped from the Umzimvubu River into the water treatment works by submersible pumps. The water treatment system consists of three sets of dosing pumps, a settling tank, a 5 000l balancing tank, and two sand filters. The clear water is stored in two 10 000l storage tanks, from where it is pumped by booster pumps to the reservoir at the village.
A total of 34 000l of water is pumped to the reservoir per day. It is then gravity fed to the village at various points. Each person receives 18l per day. The solar and water treatment systems are fully automatic and only backwashing of the sand filters has to be done manually.
"Solar energy does not impact on the environment in any way and is a clean and safe energy source. The treatment station represents a major improvement to the quality of life for the villagers. In addition, two members of the community, Fikile Mdanyana and Nkululeko Makalima, have been trained as operators," concludes Mavhungu.
