The City of Cape Town’s Wesfleur and Melkbosstrand Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) recently received their ISO 9001 quality management certification from the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) for its management and operations related to treated effluent produced at these facilities.
Wesfleur and Melkbosstrand Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) received their accolade on Thursday, 23 May 2024. It is an internationally recognised quality management standard that assists organisations to ensure they meet customer needs within statutory and regulatory requirements relating to a product or service. This quality management system has in the past few years been embedded in the management and operations of these WWTWs with the aim of producing the best quality treated effluent/end product and customer service.
This is the second and third WWTW in Cape Town to be awarded ISO 9001 certification by SABS. The Bellville WWTW received their certification in July 2018.
Why is ISO 9001 important within a wastewater environment
ISO 9001 is the most widely used quality management standard in the world with more than one million certificates issued to organisations in 189 countries.
The main benefits of the ISO 9001 certification within a wastewater treatment environment include (1) customer confidence; (2) effective complaint resolution; (3) overall process improvement and (4) ongoing optimisation. This would holistically improve the wastewater treatment process and provide effective sanitation on the residents’ (customer’s) behalf.
More about the newly certified ISO 9001 Waste Water Treatment Works:
Melkbosstrand WWTW is situated in Melkbosstrand, which services sewage from Melkbosstrand, Duynefontein and partly the Big Bay communities. The WWTW is currently permitted to discharge effluent that complies with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) Standards Regulation 991. The majority of the effluent from the works is used for irrigation at the Atlantic Beach Golf Course while the remainder is discharged into the Kleine Zoute River.
Wesfleur WWTW is located outside of Atlantis in the Industrial area. The Wesfleur site consists of two separate activated sludge plants. The Industrial plant, which treats all industrial influent from Atlantis, was commissioned in 1978, while the domestic plant, which treats domestic influent, was commissioned in 1986. The treated effluent from the domestic plant is used to recharge the Atlantis Aquifer that is used as a water source to supply drinking water to Atlantis and the surrounding areas.
The domestic plant was identified for certification as it performs extremely well under the DWS permit conditions. However, both industrial and domestic plants have very good administrative systems in place and have incorporated ISO 9001 systems and controls over the past few years already.
Plant management played the leading role in this process as they identified the opportunity for certification, after the Bellville WWTW certification was maintained.
Pursuing ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard certification involved:
- Highly efficient management and process control to achieve DWS Permit standards on a sustainable basis.
- Improve and maintain administrative system.
- Continuous communication with various stakeholders associated with the wastewater treatment plant.
There are plans for more WWTWs to obtain ISO 9001 certification in the future. The first one on the horizon would be the Kraaifontein WWTW but this would also depend on the respective WWTW’s performance on their National Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) Licence/Permit conditions.
WWTW to save more watts
Both Wesfleur and Melkbosstrand WWTW are also earmarked to undergo ISO 50001 certification. This will recognise the facility for its efforts in energy efficiency. There are plans in place for both these plants to undergo the necessary enhancements and upgrades to meet the required criteria to be awarded this certification.
‘It is a proud moment for the Water and Sanitation team who worked tirelessly towards the successful ISO 9001 certification. This gives us all extra reassurance that Cape Town’s WWTWs operate with utmost efficiency and ensuring top quality standards at every step of the process,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation, Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
