The water was then pumped from the reservoir in the town to a reservoir on the hill by a powerful centrifugal pump. Here it was filtered and led to the houses by a network of pipes, each equipped with a water meter.
At the same time as the installation of a new scheme, the City Council also instructed the mayor and the city clerk to revise the water regulations. These regulations were approved by the City Council at its meeting of July 17, 1911, and were promulgated shortly thereafter.
Although some pumps on the boreholes had to be replaced in the course of the following years, the mayor, C.M. van der Merwe, was able to report as follows in his annual report 1926/1927: “Our waterworks underwent severe tests during the year with satisfactory results, for although a quantity of water was used, especially during the drought, and the pumps had to work day and night, there was no delay or scarcity of water. The city engineer presented a scheme to the council to reduce the lime content of the water. A reserve large pump was purchased to pump the water from the storage reservoir or intermediate pumping station to the large reservoir on the head, so that there was no need to fear in case something happened to the working pump.
Water Supply (written in 1977): The story of the long struggle to provide the inhabitants of Senekal with sufficient water truly reflects the town’s growth from a primitive hamlet to a modern city. Originally, the inhabitants fetched their water from a few springs. When the springs began to dry up, a well was dug and a windmill was placed on it. The water was pumped into a small dam. The cost of the windmill, featuring a five-inch cylinder and 1,228 feet of galvanized two-inch pipes to transport water into the pond, as well as additional pipes to carry the water to the town, along with other accessories, was approximately R520. Five taps have been installed in Senekal, but the council has reserved the right to close three of the taps if necessary.
In 1914 a new water scheme was established. It consisted of several boreholes from which the water was pumped to a reservoir near the power station. Apart from this, some villagers had their own water. Lacking a proper filtration system, this scheme no longer met the established health requirements by 1911. The mayor, S.G. Vilonel, then paid a visit to Johannesburg and Kroonstad to inspect their filtration systems. After this, the city clerk and the clerk of works attended a demonstration of Kroonstad’s filtration system, and on their advice, the City Council decided to reorganize with the assistance of the city engineer of Bloemfontein.
The De Rust extension has now been directly connected to the mains of greater Senekal, so that difficulties in the thriving suburb have now also been resolved. The boreholes were particularly strong because “the monthly water consumption was then 500,000 gallons for domestic purposes.” Within six years, however, the water situation of Senekal would become a matter of utmost concern to the city fathers. This was in the year of the great drought. 1933, when the boreholes began to dry up. New ones were drilled, and a bank was built in the Sandspruit in an attempt to supply water to certain institutions and to strengthen the underground water.
In the years that followed, it was truly a struggle for water. The resort was increasingly taken to the Sandspruit. First the dam wall there was raised. Then another wall was built in the brook. Turbid water from the power station was filtered, more boreholes were sunk, an extra reserve reservoir was built on the hill, and a delegation was sent to the Minister of Lands to get water from the Caledon River. In desperation, the city council sought the expert advice of a consulting engineer, Mr. G. Stewart. He recommended a water scheme on the Mimosa farm. At a ratepayers’ meeting on 4 March 1946, the mayor, Mr. P.J. Erasmus, had to admit that the council was in a “difficult position… with regard to its water supply.” Water restrictions became the rule and not the exception.The expert advice of Mr G. Stewart cost the council fifty guineas and yielded nothing; the Caledon scheme was temporarily derailed, four boreholes at a cost of €200 (about R400) were drilled without success, etc.
At its ordinary meeting on 3 February 1947, a report from the consulting Engineers Stewart, Shand and Olivier was once again presented to the council and now for the first time, the possibility of a dam in the Sand River was discussed. Careful investigation into the most suitable location in the river, as well as the overall planning of the scheme, took time and it was not until 29 February 1954 that a meeting of registered owners approved the proposed scheme in the Sand River and authorized the City Council to take out a loan of €246,000 (approximately R500 000), repayable over 40 years. Towards the end of that year, a location was decided on in the river on the farm Cyferfontein, approximately 10km from Senekal.
However, the city wheels turned very slowly, because a lot of preparatory work had to be done. Among other things, easements had to be obtained on the part of the farm on which the dam was to be built, and tenders had to be called for the different sections of the work. Finally, at a special meeting of the council on 25 June 1959, the tenders were accepted. Contracts were then entered into, and construction of the scheme began. As with all such major works, problems were experienced here too, and some contractors fell behind with their work, but on 4 February 1961, the Administrator of the Oranje Vrystaat, Mr J.W. du Plessis, was able to grandly inaugurate it. It was indeed a day of celebration for Senekal, because with that, its water problems apparently ended after all these years.
Due to the siltation problems that the Eastern Free State is facing, the beautiful Cyferfontein scheme has been severely curtailed and after only about 10 years of its existence, it was found that the dam was silted up by as much as 70%. In the late sixties and early seventies, water restrictions were again the order of the day and the Council had to make provision for an alternative water supply scheme once again. Consulting engineers investigated all possibilities: Raising the bank of the Cyferfontein dam, a second dam in the Sand River, but ultimately it was decided on the De Put scheme, which was built about 6km upstream in Sandspruit. The scheme consists of a weir in the Sandspruit and a storage dam on the bank of the spruit that can store enough water for at least a year’s consumption of the town. This type of scheme is known as a “grab and store” scheme in that water flowing into the Sandspruit is pumped into the storage dam by means of two high-output pumps at a rate of 500 000 gallons per hour. The total cost of the scheme is in the order of R500 000.
“There are currently 5 major water infrastructure and 2 sewer upgrade projects in Senekal under construction.
We visited it today to get first-hand information about all the projects.
All the projects are the result of the day, eleven years ago, on 8 August, when Gert Keulder told us the news that all the water in Syferfontein dam had run out.
Older residents will remember the eight months of hardship when the whole of Senekal and Matwabeng had to live from water bottles.
Today’s almost RM 1 billion worth of upgrades is the result. Eleven years is relatively short in Government terms.
“Here is the new pump station on Syfer. The water will be pumped from the river here to the storage dam on Syfer. You can see that it is a huge difference to the single pump that was used up until now to pump water from the river to the dam. The time to fill the storage pond will be very fast and we will not lose so much water that bleeds away undisturbed.
The completion date for the construction part is March 2024, but then the pumps and electrical wiring still have to be done.
Perhaps at the end of 2024 the whole project will be finished”
“Here is the new Booster pump station that will pump water from the reservoir directly to the new water purification works with the new, 500 mm water pipe that has already been laid.
It will be raw water as no water will be purified at Syfer in the future.
Before that, they have already started the construction of a new, ultra-modern water purification plant on the head, behind Senekal town.”
“Everyone who regularly drives past the rugby field, on the way to town, knows that there is a huge problem with raw sewage running out into the field. The residents of the Retirement home knows about the sewer stench that is on the west side of the retirement home and the golfers can see the building across the river at the pump station on the golf course. In the photos below you can see the last part of the sewerage pipe over the bridge, which was specially built to cater for when the Sandspruit comes down.
The shiny pipe you see there is 200mm Stainless steel pipe which appears to be sourced from Taiwan. The pipe is heavy and the only person capable of welding the pipe is Pierre Heymans.
For those of you who don’t know; Senekal’s sewage plant has been dysfunctional since around 2016. This means that a very large percentage of raw, untreated sewage flows into the Sandspruit and ends up in Allemanskraal dam. The good news is that the upgrading and repair of the sewage plant has already begun.
Eventually, all sewage will flow back to the sewage works and be processed. However, it will take some time and before the sewer works can work, all sewage will be drained to empty all the dams to see what all needs to be repaired.
Again, the target date for completion is not until late next year. The good news is, this is another project that will improve the sewage and general health situation in the town.”
“New water treatment works.
The major project of almost RM350 is the new water purification works that are being built next to the new, large reservoir.
There is still not much to see in the photos as there was a lot of ground work done which is not visible.
Time shown we are looking at completion half 2025.
It is good to know that this is an ultra modern water works, one which on completion will be one of the three most modern water works in the country.”
“The other major project is the development at De Put which is already 95% complete.
There is a new pumping station that draws water from the river, new power distribution network, the new pumping station to the new water purification works on the head.
The pipeline has already been completed and in the interim the small water purification works next to Eskom will be used to increase the water capacity.
The other good news as you can see is that the dam at De Put is also almost full.
If the full capacity of De Put is added to the current water infrastructure, it will increase the total raw water capacity of Senekal by 40%!”
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