Dubbed Coke Ville, the project harnesses solar energy to directly augment the town’s municipal infrastructure, capable of delivering between 27 and 30 million litres of water to the surrounding communities and the town each month.
Nozicelo Ngcobo, director of Public Affairs, Communications, and Sustainability at CCBSA, said, “The community of Graaff-Reinet faces multiple challenges, including widespread poverty, limited access to safe and drinkable water, as well as the impact of load shedding which exacerbated the community’s ability to access water.”
“The off-grid and perpetually operational solar-powered groundwater harvesting and treatment initiative boasts the capacity to provide over 324 million liters of potable water annually, thanks to an 89.7 kW solar PV system. The borehole pump can extract water at a rate of 107,000 liters per hour,” she added.
Each Coke Ville comprises a tank stand, storage tanks, lockable manhole for pump, alarm system for security, palisade fencing around tank stand and solar panels with lockable gate. The taps are located outside the system for community access.
Graaff-Reinet, which is the fourth oldest town in the country, is prone to droughts, and the project is expected to benefit 3,882 households in the Asherville, Kroonvale, and Adendorp areas, encompassing a population of 20,449 residents, with 1,680 of these households registered as indigent.
CCBSA has implemented systems in including Limpopo, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape.
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