Steel mill in South Africa extends water treatment contract with Veolia

In South Africa, the need for water treatment is increasing, especially in the mining sector. As active water treatment technologies are expensive, the mining sector has an increasing need for passive water treatment technology, with low maintenance and operating costs, yet efficient water treatment ability. Literature on passive water treatment suggests that these systems only offer a narrow range of treatment capabilities. Therefore, hybrid water treatment systems could be a solution to low-cost water treatment in South Africa. The degrading packed bed reactor (DPBR) is one of the units comprising the hybrid treatment group. The DPBR’s main action is to convert sulfates into sulfides and alkalinity, since this reduces the impact on the environment by increasing the pH and reducing the salinity. In this study, 6 small-scale DPBRs were constructed. Each was classified according to its unique organic source (manure, straw, vegetable food processing waste, wood shavings, chicken litter and a combined sample with layers of all the carbon sources). Synthetic acid mine drainage (AMD) was fed through the 6 bioreactors for a period of 3 months. Permeabilities, leachate samples and effective void volumes were measured from the DPBRs. From the experiments conducted, it was found that the manure and combination bioreactors (with equal layers of manure, straw, compost, wood shavings and chicken litter) had the lowest overall permeabilities, with straw and compost having the highest permeabilities. Linked to this, the experiments showed that the manure and combination bioreactors had the largest decreases in effective porosity with straw and compost having the least. Hydraulically, the combination bioreactor performed the best by incorporating the best attributes from each carbon source. Wood shavings preformed almost as well. Chicken litter clogged within 18 days after the initiation of the experiment and thus was the least effective substrate.

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Suez Environnement wins reuse water treatment contract in China

Membrane Technology ◽

10.1016/s0958-2118(15)30158-0 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 2015 (8) ◽

pp. 4-5

Keyword(s):

Water Treatment ◽

Reuse Water ◽

Treatment Contract

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A comparative life cycle assessment of process water treatment technologies at the Secunda industrial complex, South Africa

Water SA ◽

10.4314/wsa.v38i4.10 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 38 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

C Ras ◽

H Von Blottnitz

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Water Treatment ◽

Process Water ◽

Industrial Complex ◽

Treatment Technologies ◽

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment

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Occurrence of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and Genes in Two Drinking Water Treatment and Distribution Systems in the North-West Province of South Africa

Antibiotics ◽

10.3390/antibiotics9110745 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (11) ◽

pp. 745

Author(s):

Collins Njie Ateba ◽

Naledi Mahalia Tabi ◽

Justine Fri ◽

Marie Ebob Agbortabot Bissong ◽

Cornelius Carlos Bezuidenhout

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Drinking Water ◽

Water Treatment ◽

Distribution Systems ◽

Drinking Water Treatment ◽

Coliform Bacteria ◽

Resistant Bacteria ◽

North West ◽

The North ◽

North West Province

With the increasing spread of antimicrobial resistance, there is growing attention to the contribution made by drinking water systems. The potential health impact of two drinking water treatment and distribution systems (A and B) in the North-West Province of South Africa was determined by investigating the water quality and occurrence of antimicrobial-resistant heterotrophic bacteria and genes in the raw and treated water over four seasons. Most of the physicochemical parameters except for electrical conductivity were within permissible limits. Coliform bacteria reduced from raw to potable water except for counts higher than the threshold recorded in Summer and Winter. A total of 203 heterotrophic bacterial isolates were recovered on chromogenic R2A medium and subjected to susceptibility testing to twelve antibiotics. Most of the isolates were resistant to β-lactam antibiotics and Trimethoprim, whereas they were susceptible to Ciprofloxacin, Erythromycin, and Neomycin. The proportions of Cephalothin and Kanamycin-resistant isolates were significantly higher (p < 0.05) after treatment for site A, compared to significantly lower β-lactam, Oxytetracycline, and Trimethoprim-resistant isolates for B. Over 50% of isolates were of high risk, indicating their origin from high antibiotic-use sources. Seventy-one (35%) isolates were multidrug-resistant, out of which the majority (53.5%, n = 38) possessed the strA gene, followed by strB 21 (29.6%), dfrB 13 (18.3%), aadA 11 (15.5%), blaCTX-M 5 (7.0%), and tetA 3 (4.2%). The 16S rRNA gene sequences of the isolates revealed strains belonging to eight bacterial families, some of which are clinically important.

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