Saldanha - Water

As WPP is the only subsidiary that has water consumption requirements during production, only WPP will be reported. The Plant consists of two discharge pipelines:

Pipeline A: water mainly from the air scrubbers.
Pipeline B: Water mainly from production and cleaning.

Daily Water Consumption

Continues daily water consumption has been started from April 2023.
Flow meter calibration faults were identified and will be replaced for more accurate water consumption monitoring.
- Current measurements suggest an average daily discharge of 6.1 ML/day during production.
- Nevertheless, only 1.7 ML/day intake on average between seawater, fresh water, and fish moisture can be accounted for.

Total water discharge

WPP discharged 83 ML during April compared to 100 ML during May.
The increased discharge volume is not directly linked to production yield but is possible to operating hours.

Water Quality

Pipeline A - Quality Monitoring

Pipeline A is compliant with the Coastal Water Discharge Permit (CWDP) limits.

Pipeline B - Concerning Contaminants

Ammonia and organic contaminants are the primary environmental contaminant concerns.
These parameters are non-compliant with the current CWDP limits.
A Water Management Plant (WMP) has been created to achieve compliance.
- An improvement in FOG is subject to improve point source management of organic matter.

Water Management Plan (WMP)

Based on WPP water balance and what is understood from monitoring data this Water Management Plan (WMP) aims to set out an action plan to address each concerning parameter based on a phased approach with set out timeframes. This WMP will be amended in steps during the phases as more information (e.g., new CWDP) becomes available and monitoring data become more frequent and reliable.

Progress Made

Phase 1

The internal water monitoring spectrum and frequency has increased from monthly to daily and is depicted in this report.
This has allowed for better source management in identifying source points.

Phase 2

1000 KL fresh water storage tanks installation phase.
Improve desperation models has be assets, for more accurate pipeline design.
- The current pipeline A and B will be combined and discharged only via pipeline B.
- Pipeline B will extend 500 m into the ocean and 5.8 m subtidal.
- The dispersion model indicates that the pipeline extension alone will improve the water quality to the WMP 5-year target.
To achieve to final target on-shore treatment would be required.
- Additional Proof of Concept (PoC) studies will be conducted between July - and December 2023.

Phase 3

Only starts after major development of phase 2.

Page updated

Report abuse