Marine Intake and Outfall Infrastructure Servitude(s) Project, Coega Special Economic Zone, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape

The Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is situated on the northern side of Port Elizabeth within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) seated within the Sarah Baartman District, Eastern Cape.  The integrated SEZ and Port of Ngqura is approximately 11,500 ha in extent and comprises of 14 zones designated for various light, medium and heavy industrial land uses. The purpose of the marine intake and outfall infrastructure and servitudes project is the provision of seawater for various industries (aquaculture, power provision and desalination) via a number of seawater intakes and the discharge of treated effluent into the marine environment. As such, infrastructure related to this project needs to be constructed along the coast. The Port of Ngqura (Zone 8) and Zone 10 within the SEZ have been proposed.

INTAKE INFRASTRUCTURE

The rationale for developing an integrated marine abstraction servitude(s) is to have a common user servitude in which a number of possible industries can establish infrastructure required to abstract seawater from the marine environment. The types of industries that will require seawater can be grouped as follows:

• Aquaculture (Finfish): 0.94 m3/s
• Aquaculture (Abalone): 5 m3/s
• Seawater for desalination: 2.03 m3/s
• Intake for Power stations: 14.74 m3/s (worst-case)
• Intake for LNG Gas hub: 4m3/s (worst-case)

There will be two seawater abstraction servitudes with associated infrastructure; one inside the Port of Ngqura for the power station’s cooling water requirements, and the other for the requirements of the aquaculture industries and for desalination. Within each servitude, a number of different seawater abstraction technologies could be utilised, depending on industry requirements. The types of abstraction technologies to be utilised include the following:

• Seawater Abstraction Pipeline
• Vertical Beach Wells
• Onshore Pump Station and Screening Facility; and
• WEROP Wave Pump

Detailed descriptions of these technologies are provided in the Scoping Report.

OUTFALL INFRASTRUCTURE

The rationale for developing an integrated marine discharge servitude is to have a common user servitude in which a number of possible industries can establish infrastructure required to discharge effluent into the marine environment. The types of industries that may require discharge of effluent can be grouped as follows:

• Aquaculture (Finfish): 0.94 m3/s
• Aquaculture (Abalone): 5 m3/s
• Brine from Desalination: 1.22 m3/s
• Discharge for Power stations: 14.6 m3/s (worst-case)
• Discharge for LNG Gas hub: 4 m3/s (worst-case)
• Waste water from Waste Water Treatment Works: 0.93 + 0.46 m3/s

A servitude(s) in which various industries can establish infrastructure to discharge treated effluent to the marine environment will be constructed. Depending on the volume and nature of the effluent, different types of discharge infrastructure may be built in the servitude(s) (e.g. pipelines, beach discharge or tunnels). The time of construction of the various discharge structures within the servitudes will be dictated by the demand and timing of the implementation of these various industries. The position of the discharge servitude, depth of discharge, and design of discharge infrastructure will be determined via a dispersion modelling process and engineering studies.

Seawater from the abalone farms will be discharged directly to the marine environment via a pipeline and/or have the option of diverting some of the seawater to a desalination facility.

Finfish effluent from various users will be treated on site by each investor, before being discharged via a pipeline to the marine environment.

Published: 29 July 2020
Review Period: 29 July -29 August 2020

Contact Person: Ms Nicole Wienand
Email: n.wienand@cesnet.co.za
Tel: 046-622 2364

DEFF Ref. No.: 14/12/16/3/3/2/2001