Wise Villages

The Genius of Friemersheim’s Water Purification

Denvar Draai, Process Controller at the Friemersheim Water Purification Plant, provided an insightful guide through the inner-workings of the town’s most important bulwark against shortage and contamination of its drinking water supply . Acknowledged and awarded as one of the region’s best process controllers for water treatment,  Mr Draai is driven by the constant awareness … Continue reading The Genius of Friemersheim’s Water Purification

Denvar Draai, Process Controller at the Friemersheim Water Purification Plant, provided an insightful guide through the inner-workings of the town’s most important bulwark against shortage and contamination of its drinking water supply .

Acknowledged and awarded as one of the region’s best process controllers for water treatment,  Mr Draai is driven by the constant awareness that “this is my community and I will ensure that they have good quality water.” This was abundantly clear in the strategy he adopted while hosting young people who are exploring a new way for Vocational training in Agriculture. 

Mr Draai, carefully, and with a commanding knowledge of the applicable sciences, described the processes involved in water purification while remaining alert and open to questions from the visitors, summarizing the core elements of the Plant’s operational priorities and insightfully making connections to its relevance for the consumption needs of Friemersheim.

Starting with the origins of the raw-water source, Mr Draai continued by methodically describing, Coagulation, Flocculation, Settling (Sedimentation), Filtration, Disinfection and, what he described as crucial: Record-Keeping.

Explaining the stages of water purification with helpful clarity, Mr Draai conducted a series of real testing, with the collaboration of his staff. As he described each step of the processes, he proceeded to conduct the tests in the min-lab. The tests, he explained, are vital to the work of the Plant and the lab was fitted with the necessary instruments to provide a daily stability index.

“This is my community and I will ensure that they have good quality water.”

Denvar Draai, 12 March 2020

He made it abundantly clear, on several occasions that, adherence to the parameters from the Municipality guided the commitment to quality and he praised the importance and value placed on ensuring Friemersheim’s residents have quality drinking water. Those parameters, he explained, were especially guided by the insistence on testing of TurbidityColourpH and Conductivity, all of which Mr Draai explained in the context of  a truly informative guide through the Friemersheim Water Purification Plant.

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Also, he took time to explain the relevance of his work and the operational focus of the plant by describing the health- and economic implications for individual persons and households. He specifically connected the identifying and regulating of pH levels, for example, to the problems of clogged pipes and staining of clothes. The impact on people’s health, particularly, was described as the reason for constant testing of metals in water. Mr Draai even elaborated on the caution that must be taken in how water is treated, cautioning that mistakes can, for example, elevate the presence of Trihalomethans in drinking water to unacceptable levels. It can, Mr Draai continued, cause cancer or speed up the growth of existing cancer cells, not excluding “heart, lung, kidney, liver, and central nervous system damage.”

 

Report and pictures by: Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter for LEARNING ACADEMY WORLDWIDE

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