Project archive: borehole and municipal water work across Gauteng and the Western Cape

Site notes from pump rooms, filtration skids and tank stands we have built or rebuilt, with the water problem logged, the equipment fitted, and the lab readings before and after.

How to read these project entries

Every write-up in this archive follows the same order so you can compare one site against another without guessing what was measured or when. A few terms come up often enough that they are worth pinning down before you scroll through the entries.

Before and after readings

Numbers are lab results from samples drawn at the same tap, usually the kitchen or the pump house sample point. Iron and manganese are reported in mg/L, turbidity in NTU. Where a reading was taken days apart from the install, the date is noted, because a borehole can shift after heavy rain or a long dry spell.

Equipment listed is what was fitted

The spec line covers the filtration skid, media beds, UV reactor wattage, pump model and tank capacity that went in on the day. It does not include pipework that was already on site, nor fittings the owner supplied. If a pressure vessel or JoJo tank was reused, that is stated in the entry.

Site names and locations

Properties are described by area and type, such as a smallholding near Hartbeespoort or a guesthouse in Stellenbosch. Street addresses and owner names are left out. If you recognise your own setup in an entry, that is a useful starting point for a conversation, not a claim that the same fix will apply.

What these entries are not

A logged project is a record of one site on one set of readings. It is not a quotation, a guarantee of the same outcome elsewhere, or a substitute for testing your own borehole. Water chemistry varies between neighbouring properties, and pump rooms differ in space, drainage and electrical supply.

Maintenance intervals are estimates

Cartridge change intervals, media backwash schedules and UV lamp hours shown in the entries assume typical household or guesthouse demand. A farm running irrigation off the same supply, or a block with more units than the original design, will need shorter intervals. Treat the figures as a baseline to adjust once you have your own usage pattern.

Sites we have worked on, with the numbers to match

Every job below started with a water sample and a look at the pump house. What follows is the site, the problem as the owner described it, the equipment we fitted, and the lab readings before and after. Three of the more detailed write-ups are linked in full.

Filtration skid with pressure vessels and pipework inside a small pump house

Hartbeespoort Borehole Iron Removal

A smallholding borehole staining basins and laundry

Rust-brown stains on basins, tiles and washing pushed this household onto bottled water for drinking. We sampled the borehole, ran the iron and manganese figures, and built a two-stage skid with a backwashing iron filter ahead of a manganese media bed. The pump house was tight, so the frame went up on a raised mount with the drain routed to the existing soakaway. Iron fell from 3.1 mg/L to under 0.1 mg/L, manganese from 0.42 mg/L to trace.

Read the Hartbeespoort case

UV disinfection reactor and sediment filter housings mounted on a pump room wall

Stellenbosch Guesthouse UV Disinfection

Borehole supply for a six-room guesthouse

Chemistry on this borehole came back clean, but bacterial counts moved around after heavy rain. The owners wanted to keep the existing pressure vessel and JoJo tank setup and add treatment sized for the morning rush across six rooms. We fitted a 20-inch sediment housing ahead of a 55 W UV reactor with a flow restrictor, plus a sample tap after the UV for quarterly lab checks. Lamp hours and cartridge swaps now go on a wall chart in the pump room.

Read the Stellenbosch case

Booster pump and pressure vessel beside a JoJo tank on a raised stand

East Rand Booster Pump and Tank Stand

Pressure drops when two taps run

Municipal supply carried sediment, and pressure collapsed whenever two or three units drew water at the same time. We swapped out a cycling pressure switch, installed a variable-speed booster pump, and rebuilt the stand so a 5000 L JoJo tank feeds the booster through a sediment filter and a correctly sized pressure vessel. Trenching stayed shallow and was marked clear of the irrigation runs. Pressure is now steady across all units, with a cartridge schedule the trustees can follow.

Read the East Rand case

What the work actually looks like

Pump rooms, filtration skids, tank stands and trenching from recent jobs. Each photo comes with the site, the problem we were called out for, and the readings that changed after the install.

Tiger Water projects — Hartbeespoort smallholding

Backwashing iron filter ahead of a manganese media bed. Iron fell from 3.1 mg/L to under 0.1 mg/L; manganese dropped to trace levels. Drain line runs to the existing soakaway.