WHAT WE DO
Services
SERVICES
We take pride in our comprehensive specialist, technical and professional expertise.
We leverage our competitive advantage
With highly trained and competent personnel in a range of scientific, engineering, accounting, legal, human resources, social and management sciences and operations and maintenance disciplines, we are able to extended this expertise to our customers, ensuring competent service and satisfaction in all of our dealings.
Our product and service offering is further enhanced by our performance-based culture, superior management, asset management and enterprise management systems.
We are internationally competitive in water demand management, water quality assurance and governance.
This, coupled with the accreditation of our laboratory, superior infrastructure asset management, exceptional performance allowing for acceptable tariffs (we do not receive grant funding), rapid response times and a focus on leading bulk water services provision in the Eastern Cape Province, makes us the service provider of choice in bulk water and sanitation services.
We offer a comprehensive range of services
We actively pursue our vision of becoming the leading bulk water services provider for the water sector in the Eastern Cape by offering a full range of water services, with particular competencies in the following areas:
- Bulk Water Sales
- Infrastructure Development
- Water Services
- Water Resource Management
- Scientific Services
- Institutional & Social Development
Bulk water sales
We regularly review our current capacities and assess the needs of District and Local Municipalities to ensure any opportunity to expand our primary business of bulk potable water production is identified and pursued.
Furthermore, we invest considerable effort to initiate, deliberate and conclude supply relationships and underlying agreements with both district and local municipal entities.
The outcome of this local government partnership activity is outlined below:
Buffalo City Municipality
Buffalo City became a Water Services Authority in July 2003, following the announcement of powers and functions by the Minister of Provincial and Local Government. At the time of the pronouncement, we had already entered into a 30-year supply contract (with an escape clause) with Buffalo City Municipality.
Infrastructure development
We focus on developing infrastructure through:
- Water sector planning
- Project planning
- Implementing agency and programme management
- Construction management
- Upgrading/refurbishment
- Contracts administration.
We invest considerable effort in maintaining a dedicated planning capability and these planning resources and expertise are shared with our customers in business and development planning.
The availability of this service facilitates and encourages integrated planning among participating institutions in the local government services arena.
In offering project management services, we do not compete directly with external consultants, but instead provide an overall project implementing management function that seeks to ensure that the best interests of the customer is exercised.
The scope of our involvement in municipalities´ infrastructure development processes may include any of the project stages, starting from preliminary planning right through to final project implementation and evaluation.
We maintain a Geographical Information System (GIS) and liaison is maintained with DWS as well as with local government institutions regarding issues of common interest.
The Water Services Act requires that we prepare an infrastructure plan that covers short, medium and long-term infrastructure requirements. The planning and development approach seeks to assure reliable and adequate water services supply across municipal boundaries and, by considering regional potential and constraints, seeks to leverage operational economies of scale to enhance long-term service delivery to all consumers.
The methodology used to develop our Infrastructure Master Plan (IMP) is similar to that used for the preparation of Water Sector Development Plans (WSDPs) and Water Services Plans (WSPs) by local government authorities.
We, therefore, have the capability to offer local municipalities assistance with both the preparation of appropriate planning and assistance in implementing the WSPs.
We have expertise in carrying out basic designs on small infrastructure projects. Design on medium to large projects is outsourced to appropriate consultants but can be project managed as a service to clients.
We also plan and implement proactive maintenance on all relevant infrastructure in order to maintain the assurance of water supply at required levels. These initiatives include the upgrading of pump stations and telemetry systems and the implementation of programmes for preventative and predictive maintenance activity. Specialist maintenance services offered include the alignment of machinery and plant troubleshooting.
We have participated in various capacities in pipeline development projects for pipeline design and construction work executed for municipalities and as part of the improvement of our own bulk networks.
Where we are not the implementing agent, we are typically invited to provide technical and institutional comments on aspects from design to commissioning stages.
Due to in-field servicing requirements, our Institutional and Social Development (ISD) facilitator has been called upon to lead facilitation efforts even where we are not the appointed implementing agent. Such arrangements have worked well, helping to ensure the sustainability of projects and the smooth operation and maintenance thereof.
Water services
Our core business is the provision of bulk water and bulk sanitation services.
All agreements between our organisation and customer institutions are circumscribed by requirements set out in the Water Services Act, the National Water Act, and other relevant local government legislation.
Individual consumers are supplied with potable water directly by our organisation only under exceptional circumstances. In principle, contracts should be entered into with the local or district municipality for water supply and not with us. There are, however, a number of instances where, for historical or other practical reasons, we have supplied potable water directly to the end-user.
Our infrastructure is upgraded to meet demands as required, and is guided by our Infrastructure Master Plan. The plan provides for a 20-year planning horizon.
Water resource management
We provide the following water resource management services:
- Analytical services
- Pollution Control
- .Environmental management.
Water leakage management is important for all water providers in controlling the negative impact that leakages have on financial viability and water resources utilisation.
We are conversant with best practice regarding non-revenue water and are fully qualified to conduct investigations and to implement customised interventions to minimise adverse variances/illegal connections.
The Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation has been implementing projects on the clearing of alien vegetation from river and dam areas to reduce water losses – Working for Water.
We have acted as an implementing agent to manage the essential activities for a number of these projects, such as the control and eradication of the South American floating plant - water hyacinth - in a number of Eastern Cape rivers.
Scientific services
We have a well-equipped laboratory, which is used to analyse samples of raw and treated water for internal use and for external customers.
Consistent internal monitoring audits conducted on samples of water produced at all treatment plants that we manage to ensure that water quality levels remain at a high standard. ISO 14000 and ISO 17025 quality control standards to improve internal management systems have been implemented.
Institutional & social development
We focus on the following areas of institutional & social development:
- Community water and sanitation project facilitation
- Capacity building and training facilitation.
An Institutional and Social Development (ISD) facilitator assists our clients and us in conducting community discussions and negotiations regarding the implementation of operations and development projects.
