In South Africa, the situation is different to many countries in the world because the government grants free access to basic water (300l/household/day) and sanitation for all. Tapping on the resources provided by treated wastewater, the municipality promotes healthy communities through a holistic and sustainable approach to urban agriculture that embraces organic farming principles based on low input costs.
In this context, the German non-profit “Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association” (BORDA) is collaborating with the Municipal Water and Sanitation utility and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in designing and constructing a decentralised wastewater treatment system (commonly referred to as DEWATS) at the “Newlands-Mashu Permaculture Learning Centre” – one of the municipality’s six support hubs under its “Agroecology Programme”. The DEWATS, receiving up to 40 m3/d of domestic wastewater from 85 households of a surrounding residential area, runs by gravity only - no machinery or energy inputs are required. Instead, biogas is collected and used for cooking.
Today over 1,000 DEWATS treating 1-1,000 m3/d serve settlements, small and medium enterprises or institutions. Their potential applies to sites, where population density is too big to apply individual household sanitation solutions like latrines and where a connection to the public sewer system is economically not feasible due to distance, topography or limits of the sewer network and/or the receiving treatment works.
In recognition of ‘BORDA’s technology innovation that transforms sanitation service delivery in low income urban settlements’, BORDA has been announced as winner of the IWA Development Solutions Award in the 2011 cycle.
- Chris Buckley, Head Pollution Research Group, University of KwaZulu-Natal
- Stefan Reuter,Project-Coordinator South-Africa/Lesotho, Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association, BORDA
