Specialising in the management and treatment of wastewater

Specialising in the management and treatment of bulk wastewater, ERWAT Operations Department manages 19 wastewater treatment works which receive both domestic and industrial wastewater. The design capacity of the individual works varies from 1 Mℓ per day to as high as 170 Mℓ per day. Rapid urbanisation and industrial growth demand additional wastewater treatment capacity to meet all the wastewater treatment needs within reasonable cost. To this end and according to a Facilities Development Plan, ERWAT’s strategic approach is regionalisation (closure of smaller wastewater treatment works) as well as the extension of existing and building of new works. To meet the region’s needs, ERWAT’s area of operation has been divided into three drainage districts, namely DD3 (the upper regions of the Crocodile River), DD5 (Blesbokspruit) and DD6 (Rietspruit/Klip River).

All ERWAT plants are subject to strict standards, therefore each wastewater treatment works has a Water Use Authorisation licence or an exemption issued by DWS, which prescribes the conditions which the WWTW is expected to meet during operation – effluent quality being one of them. Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) by-laws ensure adherence by industries to strict discharge standards and ERWAT and EMM work closely together in cases of industrial pollution.

In line with the Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) Green Drop certification programme, ERWAT has developed a Green Drop Acceleration Plan to streamline the processes towards achieving Green Drop status for all of ERWAT’s wastewater treatment plants.