Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien recently took an oversight visit to check progress on the R5,2 billion upgrade of the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works in Milnerton. Joined by the Section 79 Water and Sanitation Portfolio Committee, and the Section 80 Mayoral Advisory Committee for Inland Water Quality, upgrades to one of the Western Cape’s largest infrastructure projects is well on track. Construction, which started in April 2023, is expected to be completed by 2027.

Now, 20 months into the large-scale upgrade of Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW), significant progress has been made towards ensuring that this essential facility increases in capacity and improves the quality of treated effluent processed.

About this state-of-the art upgrade:

·       The upgrade is being done through two construction contracts: one for civil infrastructure and another for providing mechanical and electrical infrastructure.

·       This is one of the city’s largest infrastructure projects, designed to expand the plant's capacity from 47 million litres to 100 million litres per day.

·       Cutting-edge membrane technology will be progressively added to ensure high wastewater treatment and treated effluent standards.

Progress to date:

·       The civil construction of the ultrafiltration plant has been completed. This plant will encompass advanced treatment processes, such as micro-screening, ultrafiltration membranes and ultraviolet disinfection. Also included is a treated effluent reuse pump station that will assist the city in becoming more water resilient. A contractor is currently working on the installation of mechanical and electrical equipment.

·       Construction of the process control facility is under way. This will be the operational node for the plant consisting of a new control room, with a state-of-the-art system to monitor the plant’s operations in real time. The area will also be the administration block where the operations management team will be based.

·       The civil portion of the membrane bioreactor facility, inlet works and raw sewage pump station is under construction.This is the largest part of the upgrade project and will increase the treatment capacity of the Potsdam WWTW to 100 million litres per day.

·       Civil construction of the dewatering plant has been completed and has been handed over to the mechanical and electrical contractor for equipment installation. This includes eight new primary sludge belt presses and eight new secondary sludge belt presses for de-watering of the respective sludges. This facility will greatly assist the plant in maintaining a consistent sludge age (i.e. ‘good bacteria’ levels), ensuring improved treated effluent quality.

The dewatering and ultrafiltration installations are likely to be commissioned around mid-2025. This is anticipated to have a positive impact on existing operations, assisting to realise early improved treated effluent quality at the WWTW.

The City aims to finalise the upgrade in the last quarter of 2027, with operational trials starting in 2026.

‘The extraordinary strides made in the last few months on construction at Potsdam is visibly impressive. To see the planning, coordination and professional skills being applied to make the vision for an improved capacity and quality Potsdam fast becoming a reality is exciting; as it will all ultimately benefit our growing city and the environment for years to come.

‘The City is steadily working towards restoring the environmental health of the Diep River and the Milnerton Lagoon through a combination of efforts. These major infrastructure upgrades within the area at Potsdam WWTW are instrumental and we are looking forward to seeing more progress on site over the coming months,’ said Councillor Badroodien.

See more here: Potsdam WWTW video

Supplied by: Media Office, City of Cape Town