Our raw water needs to be treated or purified so that it meets the specifications as set out in SANS 241. (South African National Standard for drinking water quality).
In a nutshell, the purpose of SANS 241 is to establish the minimum microbiological, chemical, and physical requirements for safe drinking water in South Africa.
SANS 241 sets specifications for the following determinand groups:
- Microbiological
- Physical
- Aesthetic
- Operational
- Chemical
Examples of determinands include:
- Microbiological – E. coli
- Physical – Total dissolved solids
- Aesthetic – Colour
- Operational – Turbidity
- Chemical – Chloride
Risks are identified in our raw water source, and we are required by law to monitor these risks together with the other determinands contained in SANS 241.
All the determinands are of equal importance therefore your water treatment processes must be adapted to remove or at the least mitigate these risks.
On the microbiological side there is one big difference to the other determinands.
The counts for microbiological determinands in treated water must be zero, whereas a certain concentration of the others are allowed in treated water.
While Weskus Distrik’s bulk water supply function is driven by an expert team, the support from both the political and administration arms enables our performance.
