BOTSWANA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERIND AND

TECHNOLOGY

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING
REPORT

FRANCISTOWN CITY COUNCIL: Water and wastewater

department

BY TSHOLOFELO BASHE
Student ID: 4049

Date of attachment; may 24 2010 to July 23 2010

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3

INTRODUCTION 4-8

WORK DETAILS 9-18

RECOMMENDATIONS and 19

CONCLUSIONS

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Workers of Francistown City council under water and waste
water department have been helping me wholeheartedly to
acquire knowledge on their organization.They also assisted me
on writing my report. I send the special thanks to those listed
below:
Mr. B.Legwaila
Mrs. Mhlanga
Mr B. koolopile
Mr A. Mmusi
Mrs L. Lokwalo
Mr Hulela
Mrs I. Gokatweng
Mr. C.N Masole

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 INTRODUCTION
I reported on the 24th of May 2010 in Francistown City
Council under Water and Waste Water department
(sewerage) for industrial training. I did the industrial
training to aquire skills and knowledge about water and
waste water and also to know their core main duties such as
treating waste water.
The City Francistown has around 300km of sewer lines 19
sewerage pump stations, a 15000m3/day capacity
trickling/bio-filter wastewater treatment plant, a set of 5
waste stabilization ponds, vacuum tankers and other utility
vehicles in the fleet, some tools and equipments for its
sewerage operations. The department is responsible for the
safe collection, conveyance and treatment of wastewater
generated within the city from both onsite and offsite
sanitation facilities in an environmental friendly manner.

The sewerage department comprises of two sections,

namely; Operations and Maintenance and the Wastewater
Treatment Plant.

OPERATION AND MAINTERNANCE UNIT

inspections, building control, bye-laws and sewerage

charges, maintenance and repair of the sewer reticulation
system, sewer cleaning and blockage clearing.
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 THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT

The Mambo Water Care Works was officially wet

commissioned on the 23rd June 2003. It was designed and
supervised by Stewart Scott International (SSI), financed by
Department of Sanitation and Waste Management (DSWM)
formerly under the Ministry of Local Government. Since its
commissioning, the plant never met the Botswana set
standards for discharge of effluent to the outside. This is
mainly caused by industries that discharge of influent of high
chemical oxygen demand (COD), however there are also
some shortcomings in the design of some units of the plant
that have some contribution in the plant’s poor performance.
This includes dosing of flocculent, incineration of screenings,
and harvesting of methane gas.

Having design capacity of 15000m3/day, the plant only

receives about 6000m3/day o sewerage through the
sewerage network with 19 pump stations and vacuum
tanker services as litters to help sewerage reach its
destination.

THE TREATMENT UNIT

During the treatment process, three products are

formed 1 ) Effluent (treated water) 2)Sludge, which is
pumped into the digesters for treatment and then flows into
the drying beds for drying. The sludge is then manually

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removed and disposed off. 3) Methane Gas which is
supposed to be used to ignite the incinerator.

Basically there are three main sections which

make sure that the treatment process is fully effected
namely: 1) Process Section #Control wastewater
quality #Units monitoring
#Operate
treatment plant 2) Electro-Mech
Maintenance Section 3) Laboratory Section

POLICIES

The policy of
Botswana Government is to provide waterborne sewerage
to its citizens in order to protect groundwater sources and
prevent waterborne diseases. This is in line with the
Township, the waste management, the water and public
health acts.
The City of
Francistown has a sewerage master plan which it is
following in implementing the sewerage infrastructure
development in the city. Phase 1 has already been
successfully implemented. Phase II is now being
implemented.

In the mean time measures are being

implemented in order to improve the quality of the final
effluent from the plant e. g the rejuvenation of the old ponds
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to work together with the treatment plant.

SERVICES

FREE SERVICES
#Attending
sewerage blockages in all council lines #Cleaning
council sewer line #Inspection of
sewer connections and sewer related problems
#Industrial
effluent monitoring #Advising
stakeholders on wastewater management #Promote reuse
of treated effluent, sludge and biogas
PAID SERVICES
A new
comprehensive schedule of sewerage charges has been
prepared as part of Government Cost Recovery Programme
and is now in effect having been implemented in July 2005.
The charges are with respect to the sewer connection fees,
re-use of treated effluent, wastewater from other councils,
maintenance charges for damages to sewer pipes and illegal
connections. #Most of the
funds for running the sewerage infrastructure are provided
by the government through the Revenue Support Grant. The
funds raised by sewerage charges constitute only about 10%
of the budget. This is a problem in that any reduction s in the
RSG by the government affect the operations of Department
pro-rate

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AREAS OF COOPERATION
A. Hands-on training of staff in the cooperation of staff in
the operation and maintenance of sewerage network
and the wastewater treatment plant.
B. Provision of support to the telemetry system
being put in place for monitoring the operation and
maintenance of sewer network, the plant and the pump
stations.

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WORK DETAILS
BLOCKAGES: Blockages are reported to the
Operations and Maintenance Unit. Blockages that were not
from the council sewer line were paid P30/blockage. When
unblocking a sewer pipe we used iron rods. A rod was
uncoiled until it reached the blockage in the sewer pipe
through the manhole. When it reached the blockage it was
twisted until the blockage is loosen and breaks away. If the
blockage did not break or it is difficult to break due to fats
roots, food grease ,hair and other organic matter, a chemical
called crunch was poured in the drain together with the
boiling water to dissolve it .Crunch was then opening the
sewer and drain and also dissolved the blockage.
Precautions taken when handling crunch was avoiding
contacting it with skin clothes and eyes.

VACUUM TANKER SERVICES: Drainages were

also reported in Operations and Maintenance Unit at
50/load. Drainages that were attended were the septic tanks
and the pit-latrines. When using a vacuum tank a hosepipe
was inserted in the septic tank or pit-latrine then the
vacuum pump is switched onto pump the sewer. The gauge
showed the amount of sewer in the tank. When the sewer
is finished in the pit latrine or septic tank the pump was

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stopped and the leaver was lifted them water was poured in
the hosepipe to flush the remaining sewer from it. The
collected sewer was then b disposed to the plant in Mambo
Water Care Works for treatment.
CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR: In
construction and repair, damaged manholes were repaired
and identification of connection points for the clients. When
identifying a connection point in an area we looked for a
nearby manhole. When the manhole was found then the
connection point was easily identified looking at the depth of
the of manhole, the distance as well as the angles from the
building or area that needed the connection point.
INSPECTION AND BUILDING
CONTROL: Under inspection the clients booked for inspection of
plumbing appliances and paid P50/inspection. During the time of
inspection it was made sure that plumbing appliances are connected
correctly. It inspected whether the taps for cold and hot water were
connected on correct sides, which is for hot water, on the left side,
and for cold water, on the right side. It was also inspected whether
there are no leakages on the taps. The toilets were also inspected to
see if they flush well and no leakages found on their connections.
The bathes were inspected to see if there are safe to use, this was
done by knocking on the bath‘s surface, if it made a lot of noise it
was not safe, but if it did not make noise it was safe. The basins were
inspected to see if water flows easily to the gully and also to see if
their

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Overflow control pipes are working. The manholes were also
inspected to see if there were done at the correct depth slopes and
angles. This inspection of plumbing appliances was done to make
sure that blockages are overcome on the sewer line and also
leakages of water. Under building control section there was
assessing files of building control under sewerage works office for
sewerage connection. There was compulsory requirements and
checklist. Those are 1.On e copy of detailed floor plan
showing internal plumbing. For multi-storey buildings, schematic
drainage drawings for each storey shall be submitted.
2. Copy of certified ID [O-mang or passport for non-
citizens], certified copy of plot certificate [e.g. title deed], and recent
letter received at mailing address as proof. 3. Sewer
reticulation drawings must show flow direction and final sewer
connect point. Ensure that proposed sewer connection points are
shown accurately as they appear on the ground.
4. Gully traps vent
pipes and any other fixtures must be shown on the plan in correct
positions. 5. Ensure sewer lines are not connected
in acute angle or against flow directions
6. Minimum sewer diameters should be as follows: 110mm inside
plot and 160mm outside plot boundary 7. Manholes should be
provided at every change sewer alignment, every change of gradient
at the head of all sewers, for branches at every junction of two
sewers and lastly at every change in the size of sewer.
8. Minimum manhole size should be 450mm x 600mm
9.Manhole construction and manhole cover types must be specified
10. Manhole deeper than 800mm should be provided with step irons
PLANT PROCESS: Plant is where the waste water is treated to
extent that it can be re-used in construction and watering. Daily grit
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(soil) was removed. It was ensured that the classifier and the paddle
drives are running. After that blowers were started to introduce
high pressure air at the bottom of the chamber. The valve was then
closed for the air outlet to blow up particles. After a minute a valve
was opened for heavier particles to be forced to go through the pipe
leading to classifier, this is where the separation of particles took
place. The process is called degriting. Grit consists of inorganic and
organic substances, e.g. soil, wood; food scraps EST. Under this
section readings of influent and effluent were recorded daily prom
prosonic level controller at 2 hours interval starting at 8am until
4pm hence calculating the daily flow.
Controlling and operating the humus tank
valves which allow sludge to flow back into the plant was
done in 2 hours interval starting at 8am until 4pm. Disluging
drying bed was done manually after every week because
drying beds took long to dry due to winter season

degriter tank 1

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 LABORATORY PROCESS: Under these section every
day around 10: a m and 3pm samples were collected from
the effluent, trick filter and the influent. These samples are
used for measuring no of settled solids in an hour by the
influence of gravity.

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measuring no of settled solids in inf1

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Particles that settle are those that have greater specific
gravity than water. The no of solids also determine the
nature of population around the city hence how to design
the primary settlement tanks

Samples 1

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 The samples were also tested pH
and temperature using pH/temp meter.Meaasuring
temperature is basically important for its effect on the
properties e.g. speeding up chemical reactions in solubility
of gases and amplification of taste and oudours. PH was
measured because in wastewater within a range of favorable
to particular organisms involved such as bacteria. Chemical
process used to coagulate wastewater dewaters sludge or
oxidize certain substances such as cyanide ion require pH to
be controlled within a rather narrow limits.

ph and temp meter 1

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 The samples were also used for
measuring no of solids in water. They were poured in the
Petri-dish then placed in an oven for 2 hours at 105 oc for
drying after that it was cooled then weighed by the analytical
balance. The total no of solids dissolved and suspended
solids were also measured. The samples were filtered, the
liquid that passes through the filter paper was used to
measure the total solids dissolved while the suspended
solids were measured by the solids that remained in the
filter paper after heating them to dry. This process was done
because in portable waters most of matter is in dissolved
form and consists of mainly inorganic salts, small amounts of
organic matter and dissolved gases. In all other liquid
materials the amount of undissolveds colloidal and
suspended matter increase with the degree of pollution.

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Chlorine test was done in the effluent only. The sample was
tested using photometer. A sample was poured in tube then
placed in the photometer, after that the photometer
calibrated to choose the fraction which is 25 for chlorine, the
photometer then instruct to start the test 1. For test 1 DPD1
Pill was put in the sample, it is the returned to the
photometer again, then the photometer will instruct to start
a second test using DPD3 Pill then the test will be done. The
result will then appear in the display, showing free chlorine
combined chlorine and tot chlorine. This chlorine is done to
check whether the amount of chlorine in water is suitable for
use without any harm.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

It is important that every level of worker in the company be

able to do their job to the full extent. Delays due to
numerous consulting of higher members of the company
reduce the effect of the workforce hired. Errors are made by
unskilled laborers who are hired by the company. This also
produces time delays and costly mistakes which would
require the skills of a higher ranked employee of the
company. This causes a chain of time consuming that ripples
through the workforce to a certain extent. Not all safety
regulations are followed by the employees. This leads to risk
of mishaps and serious injuries to employees.

CONCLUSION

The time spent on all the sites increased my knowledge of

the industry in practical sense and thus gives me the
confidence to be certain of the future growth of my skills and
knowledge of the industry.

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