Cape Town - While the national chlorine supply constraints had improved after it was announced that there was a supply disruption at South Africa’s main manufacturer of chlorine gas for water purification purposes, the City said it would continue to execute its contingency plans.
Last week the national Department of Water and Sanitation said there was no longer cause for concern regarding a chlorine supply shortage.
Media reports revealed that NCP Chlorchem, which has its headquarters in Kempton Park in Gauteng and supplied the City of Cape Town with chlorine, faced delays in obtaining imported raw materials owing to infrastructure problems at KwaZulu-Natal ports as well as electricity problems at its plant.
NCP Chlorchem commercial director Stefan Ferreira said the plant where the interruptions had occurred was now up and running again, and they were back to supplying all their customers as per normal.
Department of Water and Sanitation spokesperson Sputnik Ratau confirmed that the situation had stabilised and the company was now in a situation where it could deliver.
However, the City felt it was important to continue building its reserves and was already procuring chlorine gas substitutes locally while actively exploring all other alternatives.
Water and waste mayco member Zahid Badroodien said: “The City is receiving chlorine deliveries as scheduled, while continuing with steps to build reserves.”
Badroodien said they deemed it prudent to continue to execute their chlorine supply contingency plans given the limited number of chlorine gas manufacturers in South Africa.
The contingency plans included asking residents to help by reducing non-essential water usage to reduce Cape Town’s overall water usage to approximately 800 megalitres a day.
“The City is procuring salt for its (on-site hypochlorite generation system) plants, as well as chlorine chips and sodium hypochlorite for plants able to use these alternatives.
“These will be used as reserves where the treatment infrastructure is suitable, and may be used as a substitute or in combination with chlorine gas where necessary.”
They were also looking at reducing pressure where possible to assist with staying within the 800 megalitres a day range, if required.
“Cape Town’s tap water remains safe to drink and continues to meet national drinking water quality standards at all times,” said Badroodien.