Producing Safe Drinking Water:
Ultra-filtration Membrane for the
Removal
of Indicator Bacteria
South African Vision
To provide access
to an adequate,
safe and affordable
supply of potable
water to all people
living in South
Africa
All people should be
knowledgeable about
healthy living
practices and use
water wisely
Water supply should be
sustainable and be provided
by efficient and effective
services providers who are
accountable and responsive
to the customers they serve
Provision of Water Services
Prior 1994
An estimated 30 – 40 % of South African population (14-18
M) without adequate water supply services
Since 1994
South Africa has excellent advancements in the Water
Sector
Delivery of water services to an estimated 12 M of
previously un-served households
Development of world class policies and
legislation
Ongoing expansion and upgrading of an extensive
network of water infrastructure
Compulsory national standards for the quality
of the potable water provided are defined in
SANS 241: Specification for Drinking Water
The South African National Water Act provides the
foundation for water to be
managed in an
integrated manner based
on the principles
of equity, efficiency and sustainability.

 In terms of Constitution and the 1997 Water
Service Act (Act 108 of 1997),
 Water Service Providers (WSPs): Responsible
 Each Water Service Authority must:
o implement a programme for monitoring the
quality of drinking water provided to
consumers
o Ensure satisfaction of the Compulsory
National Standards for Water (Gazette in
June 2001)
o Communicate immediately any threat to
public health to the Department of Water
Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and to the
Department of Health (DOH)
 The regulations require that water
supplied (by water service providers)
which is intended for drinking or
domestic purposes must be of a quality
consistent with SANS 241
 If the regulations relating to the
compulsory national standards are
contravened, the WSA will be held
accountable

DWAF is the National Regulatory Authority
o DWAF has the responsibility of ensuring
that Water Services Institutions producing
water for drinking and domestic purposes
comply with the Compulsory National
Standards
 Safe drinking water that complies with
SANS 241 does not pose a significant risk to
public health over a lifetime of consumption
Safe drinking water that complies with
the SANS 241 is the norm in almost all
South African metropolitan Areas
Safe drinking water still a dream in
rural areas
 High incidence of poor drinking water
quality
Poor service delivery
An estimated 5 million people in
South Africa still have no access to
treated drinking water within
reasonable distances from their
dwellings
 Many thousands more take water
from water sources and use it
untreated because of problems
experienced with adequate and
reliable potable water supply.
End user point - semi rural
Dept of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences
The Amazing World Of Microorganisms in the Water Domain: Imperatives for Sustainable Livelihood
National Profile » MIG Allocation
o Lack of understanding by WSAs regarding the
requirements for effective drinking water
quality management
o Inadequate management including monitoring of
drinking water services
o Inadequate asset management
o Inadequate Water Service Authority institutional
capacity (staffing, funding, expertise,
education)
o Lack of intervention to address poor drinking
water quality when needed
FRAMEWORK FOR A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR TECHNICAL COMPLIANCE
PROGRAM
START
Resample
to confirm
TREATMENT PLANT MEASUREMENTS
Design Aspects (from
manual/measurements)
Quality Control (final water)
Process Control (unit processes)
Plant Monitoring (sampling; analyses;
record keeping; communication; statistics)
Maintenance practices
Risk Management
COMPARISON WITH
STANDARDS
(comparison of the plant
measurements against
standards and accepted
norms)
NEXT
COMPLIANCE
MONITORING
CYCLE
No
problems
identified
REPORT
COMPLIANCE
IN ORDER
TO DWAF
(web etc)
Remeasure
Problems identified
REPORT
COMPLIANCE
NOT IN ORDER
TO DWAF
FLAG PROBLEM - AREAS
Describe problems
Mention implications / consequences
Rank in priority order
PROVIDE CORRECTIVE MEASURES
AND PREVENTATIVE MEASURES
Immediate and Longer Term
Technical
Management
FRAMEWORK FOR A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR NON-TECHNICAL COMPLIANCE
PROGRAM
START
AUDITS OF MANAGEMENT ISSUES AND
HUMAN RESOURCES ISSUES
Consider:
Strategic Level
Tactical Level (medium term planning)
Operational Level (day-to-day)
AUDIT OF MANAGEMENT
PRACTICES
Local and international
management practices
(Emanti/DWAF/AWWA)
ure
Draw up own criteria
when none are available
NEXT
COMPLIANCE
MONITORING
CYCLE
AUDIT OF HUMAN RESOURCES
Number of personnel at the plant?
Qualifications?
Plant classification by DWAF
Job conditions? (*)
Motivational levels? (*)
Inter-relationships? (*)
Performance indicators?
Re-measure
FINANCIAL
Which financial
systems in place?
Are there
sufficient funds
for:
operation?
maintenance?
overtime?
Information
sharing
meetings?
Procurement
is it adequate?
Transparency
COMMUNICATION
Which systems
are in place?
Emergency
systems?
Risk systems?
SHEQ
Safety, Health and
Environmental Quality
FLAG PROBLEM - AREAS
and
PROVIDE CORRECTIVE MEASURES
Immediate and Longer Term
COMMUNITY
INVOLVEMENT
AND AWARENESS
Refer to earlier
studies
undertakenh by
NGO's, etc.
Develop minimum
requirements for
assistance with
compliance
Customer care
Trust of the public
REPORTING
Strategies to Ensure Sustainable Production of
Safe Drinking Water in Water
Supply Systems
ECMA - Establishment of Catchment Management Agencies
IWRM- Implementation of Integrated Water Resource Management
Capillary Polysulphonate Ultra-Filtration
(CPSUF)
 Membrane technology potentially offers
the water industry a simple one or
two-step treatment barrier to secure
compliance with drinking water
standards
 In South Africa, the Institute of Polymer
Science, University of Stellenbosch,
has developed low cost capillary
membrane: CPSUF
Table 1.1: Summary of UCPSUF module
characteristics
Parameter
Value
Type of module
Hollow fibre, in/out operation, one
permeate outlet, 8 bundled modules
Total length
1200 mm
Max. feed pressure -48 Pa
Hollow-fiber inner
diameter
0.8mm
Type of membrane Polysulphonate
pH-range
4-9
Temperature-range 5-45
(˚C)
Design
performance
Feed water turbidity <20 NTU, permeate
turbidity <0.2 NTU
Pore size (µm)
0.002-1
UCPSUF system at the process evaluation facility, Wiggins
Waterworks, Durban
 The UCPSUF system has potential to produce high quality water
that meets the standards required by South African
guidelines in terms of bacterial indicator
Current challenges for the system to be
used in rural areas
 The cost of the membrane versus the quality of water it produces
Increase of the operating cost of the system as due to the
fouling of the membrane after use
 Membrane blockage in the worst situation where the
membrane is operating in very high turbidity of
greater than 100 NTU for extended periods
 Daily monitoring of the operating conditions ( pressure, flow rate,
turbidity)
 Mechanical servicing (break down of the different parts of the membrane
such as pumps, tubing pipes…) that needs to be done by experts.
 Lack of skills in rural areas
Conclusions
 Cost
implication is one of the most crucial and
controversial matters that seems to delay
the implementation of UF system in rural
areas
 A sustainable system must be cost effective
 Choices exist in terms of developing a low
capital cost unit which will have high
operating costs, or a higher capital cost
unit, which will have lower operating costs
 The Conversely, the system could be highly
automated (high capital) with low operator
requirements (low operating costs)
Thank you
Tshwane University of Technology, Faculty of Science
Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences
Arcadia Campus, 175 Nelson Mandela Drive
Republic of South Africa
[email protected]
Tel W: +27(0)12 382 6365/6232
Fax: +27(0)12 3826233