MUNICIPALITIES struggling with potable water distribution and wastewater control issues are able to get assistance from one of the world’s leading suppliers of pumps, valves and related services to governments around the world.
KSB Pumps and Valves in South Africa made its expertise available to local municipalities and water authorities following a fact-finding visit by KSB’s global specialist, Emilio de Paz, who visited and assessed a number of plants and sub-stations across the country. Where possible, the team also provided input to overcome problems faced at the sites through easy-to-implement preliminary solutions.
During his visit, De Paz committed the best of KSB’s technical expertise to assist municipalities and water utilities to deal with current challenges and to future-proof existing operations with custom solutions for each application.
Countrywide tour
“We visited a number of sites across the country over two months and culminated the trip with a two-day conference which included role-players from disaster-hit eThekwini and further afield in KwaZulu-Natal. Municipal and consulting engineers, as well as specialists from a number of water and wastewater utilities were also in attendance.
“The conference covered many topics and shared the latest findings from operations across the globe, including complex systems in countries like China, Indonesia and Mexico among others. Topics ranged from general to highly technical issues such as water hammer, cavitation and free passage of pumping systems. The designing of pump stations and sumps for maximum efficiency and reliability was also covered.
“Right now KSB is one of the only suppliers in the country that can provide the resources and expertise to ensure our potable and wastewater infrastructure can be maximised and upgraded wherever serious problems are occurring. In some instances big gains can be made with comparatively small changes and, in these instances, we can assist with immediate remedial action.
“It was a great interaction and it’s clear that our products and services are already well-known in the industry and it is currently a matter of encouraging municipalities and utilities to engage with us to address current and future challenges,” says De Paz.
Eager participation
KSB Pumps and Valves acting market area manager: water, wastewater and Irrigation, Hugo du Plessis, says the two-day conference was attended by more than 100 participants with 85 onsite and 24 online on day one with nearly all returning the following day, indicating the quality of the information shared.
“Emilio delivered a hard-hitting technical presentation on ‘Wastewater Pump Station Design’ on day one and followed up with an equally informative presentation on ‘Water Transport Systems’ on the last day. This type of knowledge is hard to find and visits like this help us to share knowledge across the country and helps ensure our customers have access to the highest possible expertise when dealing with water distribution and wastewater issues.”
