South Africa gets first landfill water treatment plant

A unit of Seche Environnement SA has opened South Africa’s first landfill water treatment plant as the water-scarce country looks to reuse more of the resource and improve its environmental standards.

Interwaste, which Paris-based Seche bought in 2019, opened the Leachate and Effluent Treatment plant at itsPlants like these could help offset the impact of South Africa’s dilapidated water supply system and a lack of planning for population growth, which are threatening more frequent water outages. in Delmas, east of Johannesburg.

It will process 43 million litres of water that drains through its own landfill, known as leachate, and waste from activities such as mining.

“Until now there have been no sustainable solutions for leachate in the country,” Jason McNeil, Interwaste’s chief executive officer, said in a statement on Wednesday.

“This comes at a time when South Africa is in desperate need of advanced solutions that not only mitigate environmental risks posed by waste liquids but also those that take pressure off our water supply.”

South Africa’s biggest cities, including Johannesburg and Durban, have periodically run short of water in recent months and a dilapidated supply system and a lack of planning for population growth is threatening more frequent outages.

That’s resulted in a push for the establishment of more water reuse plants.

Seche operates in 16 countries.