fourLINK Blog

Canadian Potable Water Treatment Plant

17th October 2022

As part of a recent assignment, members of the fourLINK team have just returned from a factory inspection and sign-off of potable water treatment (PWTP) plant in Canada. 

The PWTP equipment is containerised and will provide drinking water for over 4,000 people on a site in Africa. Water treatment is something few of us in Europe ever become involved with, as it's a specialised area where the local authorities and water treatment companies provide such centralised facilities. As the end user, we simply plug into the ready supply and have drinking water, without too much thought.

However, when working in a remote area of Africa, our team is responsible for turning raw water obtained from a borehole into potable drinking water for human consumption. The process is expensive and the sophisticated PWTP equipment, as inspected in the factory, is an impressive collection of sand and carbon filters, pumps and ultraviolet water treatment systems, which will operate for many years.

Back on site in Africa, we have also been involved in borehole drilling. This is a crucial water sourcing technique, which in this case involved a rig drilling 1,000m deep into the ground to access underground water reservoirs. The borehole extracts water from an aquifer, which offers a more reliable and sustainable water supply.

However, care must be taken in how much water is extracted, as responsible management is essential to prevent over-exploitation and environmental impacts. Working in such environments really makes you apprecaite that water must never be taken for granted, and should be conserved at all costs. 

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