You currently have a single supplier of potable water, the local municipality. Their reliability is questionable, and infrastructure failures can lead to prolonged water outages.
Having a reliable alternative to the municipality will provide you with water supply security, ensuring your building always has water.
Furthermore, as we face growing water scarcity, we will also increasingly be exposed to water restrictions, which could result in the requirement to use less water than we need.
Economists and industry specialists all agree that we will imminently start seeing the implementation of “Water Shedding,” the equivalent of Load Shedding, which will cause disruptions in water supply.
Sentient Water guarantees SANS 241-1 compliant potable water. A very high quality and safe drinking water.
We do this in two separate ways. Firstly, we have online, real-time monitoring systems to measure the key quality parameters of the product water and record this data in the cloud. You, as the client, can access this data at any time. If, in the very unlikely event that the system detects a problem with the quality of the water, the plant shuts down automatically, and the municipal backup kicks in.
At sites with higher-risk water quality or consumers, we will also implement a Water Quality Management system, which is defined in SANS 241-2. This is a very robust quality management system that involves regular laboratory samples and testing and daily and weekly checks, among many other things.
We will find an alternative water source on your property. This is typically boreholes but could be supplemented with rainwater harvesting or other groundwater sources.
We conduct groundwater surveys, drill the boreholes, and then do the tests on the amount of water and quality. If we need more, and it’s practical, we continue to drill more holes until we can reach the amount of water used on-site to cover as much of the demand as possible. The goal is to cover 100% of the demand. We do this at our own cost and risk. If we don’t find water, or not enough water, the project cannot go ahead. You are not obligated to anything at this point.
If we do find water and it’s enough and of good quality, we can move ahead with the project.
The borehole will be an asset to the property and always “belongs” to the property owner. We take no rights/ownership of this water or borehole. We do retain ownership of the installed infrastructure.
A convenient solution for housing the treatment plant is to build it into a 6-meter container and position it close to the borehole and where we tie into the building.
Yes, although this is more unreliable than boreholes due to seasonal rainfall and the unpredictability of drought spells, where practical and economically feasible, we can supplement the supply with water harvesting.
This is an unfortunate reality. Even though we conduct extensive desktop research and use scientific techniques to find potential groundwater locations, there are instances where the holes don’t yield any water.
This is a risk we take under the Water Services Agreement, and we bear all the costs. Where feasible, we might continue and drill additional boreholes to secure adequate yield.
This is very uncommon since there are water treatment processes that can deal with most common contaminants.
In some cases, however, the water may be “brackish,” which means it has a high salt content. Even though it’s technically feasible to remove the salts, the process results in a waste stream that would need to be discharged into the sewer system. If this effluent does not meet the minimum standards for sewer discharge, we might need to apply for an Effluent Discharge Permit from the local council, which would incur additional costs.
We evaluate this on a case-by-case basis. If it’s not practical or economically feasible, the project won’t go ahead. Again, we still bear all the costs for the work done up to that point.
Water treatment is complex and requires the constant input of specialists and engineers to ensure the product water is dependable and potable.
Chemical, biological, bacterial, and viral contaminants may change over time. You will require in-house expertise to manage and maintain a water treatment plant and guarantee that the water remains safe to consume at all times.
Furthermore, this ties up capital that would be better spent elsewhere in your organisation.
Additionally, you take all the risk in drilling boreholes. If you drill a hole and it’s dry, you still need to pay for it. If you enter into a Water Services Agreement, we take the risk. If we don’t find treatable and sustainable water, you don’t pay anything.
At the beginning of the process, we appoint a specialist geohydrologist who do a thorough environmental study and tests on the boreholes to determine the “sustainable yield” of the borehole. This is the recommended amount of water that should be extracted without the risk of the borehole running dry or having any negative impact on the environment. We also monitor the water levels in the borehole to ensure we aren’t over-extracting.
Making existing boreholes available for the Water Services Agreement is a win-win for both parties. The treatment fee would be reduced since we wouldn’t need to spend capital on drilling boreholes.
If you already have a borehole, we will test the quantity and quality of water from that borehole to determine whether it’s enough to meet the site’s water demand. If the borehole doesn’t yield a sufficient amount to meet the site demand, we would still drill a borehole if the geohydrologist’s study deems it viable.
We will only produce what you use.
Where the demand exceeds the sustainable yield, the plant will automatically switch to the municipal supply during the high-demand periods.
The treatment plant uses the property owner’s on-site generator or battery-supplied electricity during loadshedding. If this fails or the treatment plant is out of operation due to maintenance or repairs, the building’s supply will automatically switch over to the municipal supply.
