Borehole water to supplement NMB potable water supply – NMBM

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s drought mitigation plans are progressing well, with the construction of boreholes in Gqeberha currently underway. 

During an oversite visit on Tuesday, NMBM Mayoral Committee Member for Infrastructure and Engineering, Cllr Thsonono Buyeye expressed satisfaction with the progress made so far at the St George’s Park and Moregrove Wellfields where water will be extracted from boreholes, treated and distributed into the City’s bulk water system.

MMC Buyeye said it was important for residents to know that mitigation work to the severe drought crisis were underway however the cooperation of residents and businesses was equally as important as the mitigation plans were still under construction phases.

“We are happy with the progress so far, these projects started in July and it really gives us hope to see our bold plans becoming a reality. Through these projects we will be assisting our dams that are currently very low with the total dam levels currently sitting at 12.37%. In St George’s we are constructing four boreholes, these will be supported by the treatment works that is already at the site and the pump station we are also building on the site.”

“We are looking at producing a total of 3 million litres of water in St George’s Park once the project is done. The water from the boreholes will be pumped directly into the Churchill pipeline in order to feed other reservoirs at a high risk of running empty and this will reduce abstraction from the severely stressed western dams, that way preserving the little water that is left and developing a sustainable water supply resource for the future,” said MMC Buyeye.

The work underway at both Wellfields includes:

– Bulk earthwork and trenching

Construction of a treatment work and discharge pipework

Installation of mechanical and electrical equipment;

– Construction of secured chambers and equipping of boreholes;

– Installation of a collector pipeline to convey groundwater to a centralised point and;

– Construction of a pump station and pressurised pipeline.

The St George’s Park Wellfield project is expected to be completed in August 2022, while the Moregrove Wellfield is expected to be completed in May 2022, weather permitting.

“The Moregrove Wellfields include the Fort Nottingham, Glendinning and Fairview Wellfields located within the suburbs of Glendinningvale, Millard and Adcockvale respectively. A total of 10 production boreholes have been identified for this Wellfield project with combined pumping yield of between 2.5 and 4.2 million litres a day. We will treat and blend the water before it goes to the reservoirs,” Buyeye added.

A total of R160 million has been invested by the City for both projects.