The pursuit of water security, resilience, universal access to water and sanitation services, and sustainable economic development have become key drivers for investment in the country’s public wastewater infrastructure. South Africa is facing a water crisis primarily due to recurrent droughts, driven by climate change, and ageing infrastructure, caused by inadequate maintenance and investment in infrastructure repairs and upgrades. The National Water and Sanitation Master Plan (2019) estimates that SA has accumulated repair and upgrade backlogs of ~R25 billion and ~R332 billion in municipal water and wastewater infrastructure, respectively.
To achieve water security and equitable access to water and sanitation services by 2030 and beyond, SA will need to invest in new wastewater infrastructure projects, including the refurbishment, replacement, repair and maintenance of existing ageing infrastructure, particularly municipal infrastructure such as treatment works, pump stations and the associated technologies.
Consequently, the 2023 Water Market Intelligence Report focuses on the following opportunities in the public wastewater market in SA:
● New wastewater infrastructure, repair, and upgrades to address the challenge of delivering sustainable and equitable water, sanitation and wastewater services to industries, new property developments, rural communities, low-income households and informal settlements. Repairs and maintenance of ageing wastewater infrastructure to accelerate the eradication of infrastructure backlogs, improve service delivery and reduce environmental pollution.
● Sludge beneficiation is a circular economy solution for primary-, waste activated- and digested wastewater sludge. This presents an opportunity for interested service providers offering circular solutions to manage primary and waste activated sludge in the short-to-medium term, and digestate cake in the medium-to-long term.
● The implementation of renewable energy and energy efficiency interventions is vital to reduce electricity demands and the associated costs at wastewater treatment works (WWTWs). Since most WWTWs in South Africa are aged, advances in technology and existing well-proven equipment can be used to improve the energy efficiency (EE) of WWTWs. This unlocks several opportunities to install and maintain renewable energy and energy efficient technologies at WWTWs.
To access the MIR visit: www.greencape.co.za/market-intelligence/
To view a summary of all of the opportunities in this year’s MIRs visit:
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