Potable Water Treatment Plant for Potash Mine

Customer: BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance

Location: Ethiopia, Horn of Africa

Case Study ID: CS-81

Date: May 2010

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Overview

Dowdens Pumping and Water Treatment installed and commissioned a portable potable water treatment plant for BHP Billiton’s Potash mining camp in Ethiopia.

The Problem

The water quality produced needs to be clean, and bacteria, virus and pathogen-free. It is to be used as potable grade water to be used for the drinking, cooking, washing and showering requirements throughout the mining camp and needed to produce 20.0 KL / day.

Our Solution

BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance required a skid-mounted system capable of treating 20.0 KL / day of bore water to a potable drinking standard, which Dowdens Pumping and Water Treatment supplied. The system has a bag filter for coarse filtration, ultrafiltration (UF) for filtration to <0.2 microns, Reverse Osmosis (RO) for reduction of dissolved minerals (TDS), carbon filtration for taste, odour and organic removal, and chlorine dosing for disinfection. The system also has backwash and treated water tanks.

Key Components & Features

Skid mounted system capable of treating 20.0 KL / day of bore water to a potable drinking standard
Raw water pump
Bag filter for coarse filtration
Ultrafiltration (UF) for filtration to <0.2 micron
Reverse Osmosis (RO) for reduction of dissolved minerals (TDS)
Carbon filtration for taste, odour and organic removal
Chlorine dosing for disinfection
Treated water supply pump
Backwash and treated water tanks supplied
The WTP has minimal operator input
Robust construction for the harsh Ethiopian environment
Off the shelf, components were utilised to facilitate easy servicing and spare part replacements

Project Design Philosophy

Dowdens Pumping & Water Treatment’s design philosophy for this project was:

Cost-Effectiveness
Current Best Practice
Ease of Installation
Simple & Effective System Operation
System Reliability