Cape Town: The Water and Sanitation Directorate of the City of Cape Town has begun construction on the Zandvliet Treated Effluent Re-use (TER) Pump Station. The key infrastructure project will significantly improve access to treated effluent in Zandvliet and neighbouring areas, supporting city’s drive to reduce pressure on potable water resources.
Reportedly, the treated effluent is a sustainable alternative water source suitable for non-potable use such as irrigation, construction and industrial processes. The City of Cape Town aims to strengthen water resilience and diversify its supply sources by increasing access to this resource.
Situated at the recently upgraded Zandvliet Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW), construction of the pump station and filtration facility began in Feb 2025. Majorly, 5.32km pipeline has been installed with work on the final 200m section scheduled to start in Sept 2025 and is expected to be completed by Dec 2025.
Notably, the total construction cost of the project is estimated at R4.3 million. In the initial phase, the pump station will be equipped with two low-flow and two high-flow pumps.
As the demand grows the low-flow pumps will be replaced with additional high-flow units. It is a phased approach that will double the station’s pumping capacity from 58 litres per second to 151 litres per second.
After completion, in Sept 2026 the pump station will be capable of supplying 5 million litres per day of treated effluent to supplement end-users in the Macassar network.
Considering this, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Water and Sanitation – Councillor Zahid Badroodien said that the city is constantly expanding its treated effluent network to provide access to more customers.
At present, the network spans over 249km and as more investments are made, this will increase considerably in the future. Badroodien expressed that he is proud of this new pump station. This will be the nodal point for the new Zandvliet treated effluent network.