The community of Steytleville outside Port Elizabeth will no longer have to face shortages of water in summer thanks to the newly launched R116 million water treatment plant. The water treatment plant was supported by the Department of Trade and Industry, (the dti) through its Critical Infrastructure Programme (CIP), Department of Water and Sanitation and the Baviaans Local Municipality.
Speaking at the launch, the Mayor of Baviaans Local Municipality, Mr Ewald Loock said the community and businesses around Steytleville had for the longest time, endured difficulties in accessing clean and quality water, especially in summer.
“In the past, underground water from the Northern and Southern borehole abstraction schemes was used without any treatment other than adding chlorine. The capacity of the new water treatment plant also means that the community and businesses can have access to about 24 litres per second from 8–10 litres and this will be sufficient to meet the water demand of Steytleville for the next 15 years,” he said.
Loock added that the new plant forms part of the overall economic development of the small town as this will bring stability for farmers, small scale businesses and people who were scared to invest or inject money into businesses operating in and around Steytlerville.
The Chief Director for Infrastructure and Investment at the dti, Justice Ngwenya said there was a need to assist and intervene after the municipality indicated that they had a shortfall in the funding of the infrastructure.
Ngwenya said it was important to support the plant on the basis that sufficient supply of water to the town of Steytlerville was critical for sustainable economic growth as well as for the development of the small town.
“Urban agriculture, emerging small farmers, tourism industry and other small businesses are sustained by the bulk water project. The funding from the dti to Baviaans Municipality for the infrastructure resulted in the project creating an estimated 238 construction jobs in the area,” he added.
Ngwenya also said the support was granted for bulk water infrastructure, which involved construction of the water pipeline for the period starting March 2013 until August 2014 for Phase 3 of the overall project.