A small – working – desalination plant that cost only about N$4,5 million at the Hangana Fish Factory in Walvis Bay, may have been the start of a lasting solution to the harbour town’s beleaguered water supply system.
About a month ago, a desalination plant with a freshwater output of 20 cubic metres per day (20 000 litres) was successfully started in a small shed next to the company’s quay-side where dirty harbour water was converted into fresh drinking water.The Namibian had the privilege of testing the ‘fresh’ water running from a tap – after all, ‘the proof is in the pudding’ – and it was deliciously fresh.’For a fraction of the cost, we set up a successful desalination plant without using any chemicals through our state-of-the-art reverse osmosis (RO) filters,’ said Willie Mostert, one of the Namibian agents for Grahamtek Sytems. ‘It’s totally environmentally friendly.’According to Mostert, his company is in negotiations with the Walvis Bay Municipality for a larger plant, with an output of 60 cubic metres per day. ‘By mid 2010 it could be up and running,’ he said. ‘In fact, we know we can protect the whole of Namibia’s underground water with our system.’Seawater is pumped out of the harbour through a short pipeline into a sand filter to remove all the large ‘unclean’ particles. It then goes through another filter, which cleans the seawater to such an extent that the result is ‘see-through seawater’ (this will be used in the fish processing factory at Hangana). Then it goes into the jumbo RO filters, where, through a chemical-free and nature-inspired process, it is desalinated.’The RO filters are our secret,’ said Ghalied Hendricks of Grahamtek Systems. ‘It’s the only patented RO system in the world that does not use chemicals to clean water.’It is said that the founder of Grahamtek Systems, William Graham, about 10 years ago, studied a tree-stump and worked the system. It became known as ‘nature’s ingenuity at work’. The system is manufactured in South Africa and distributed worldwide.RO uses high pressures to balance the elements into quality drinking water. Another ‘miracle’ of the system is that it uses magnetic fields inside the filters that destroy all bacteria and viruses, according to Mostert.’We can take this system to the north during the floods and clean the water there. Cholera and E. coli and other germs will be destroyed. We can link the system to a little trailer and take it to a polluted water source, and within minutes we can make water healthy and drinkable,’ Mostert explained.Also, when there’s a system breakdown in Walvis Bay again, mobile desalination systems could be set up into the main system in a minimal period of time, and the community will have fresh water from the sea.’The nice thing about this is that it works in segments, so as water demand increases, all we do is add another section,’ he said. ‘Set-up and maintenance is minimal.’The Hangana system, comprising of six RO filters, took about 12 weeks to set up, and according to Mostert, NamWater’s intended 25 million cubic metre-output desalination plant at Mile 6 just north of Swakopmund, may cost about N$250 million to set up by his company, compared to NamWater’s projected cost of N$2 billion. Earlier this year, Walvis Bay was hit hard by critical water-shortages when Kuiseb River floods damaged the reservoir systems for weeks, forcing emergency measures by bringing water from Swakopmund transported in tanks on trucks. People had to publicly tap fresh water from water tanks and fire hydrants.A source in the Walvis Bay municipality’s water and engineering department said the system did hold potential, and that negotiations were on.The source said that, although the new project would not be able to supply 13 000 cubic metres of water a day (Walvis Bay’s water needs) for now, it would help in times of crises.’It could definitely help us supply water to the fishing sector. Whether it will supply the whole town’s needs, well, we’ll just have to wait and see,’ said the source. ‘There will be some issues to sort out though, like the water’s quality, as well as existing agreements with NamWater.’
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