TITLE: THE STATE OF PIPELINE FROM BOREHOLES TO ELEVATED TANKS
INTRODUCTION
We have five boreholes that are within our interest, borehole three near the road towards crusher is not working, it used to convey water to the site camp, boreholes 4&5 near the giraffe area are conveying water to the elevated tank 2 with a 4″ PVC pipeline with small sections pf G.I in the chambers, borehole 1 conveys water to the elevated tank 1 with a 3″ PVC pipeline. Borehole 2 supplies water to the campsite with a 75mm Hdpe pipeline, and it also supplies water to the china aerospace.
PIPELINES
Borehole 1
The 90mm pipeline from this borehole has too many leakages (more than 10) even the excavator cannot excavate the area due to the flooded nature of the leaking points. We are not using it at this moment because we lose much water when we pump
Fig 1. Damaged pipeline taking water to raised steel tanks
Fig 2. Flooding due to leakages
Borehole 2
The 75mm Hdpe pipeline from this borehole to the site is in good condition, and we don’t have any leakages along this line. The other line from this borehole to elevated tank 1 has a section which was disconnected due to the ongoing works at the WRF.
Borehole 3
The 75mm Hdpe pipeline from this borehole used to supply water to the camp before it was vandalized, there is also another line from this borehole to elevated tank one, but we don’t know its condition.
Borehole 4 and 5
The 4″ PVC pipeline from this borehole to elevated tank two have had several leakages but have been repaired, the points of excavation we never backfilled, and the soil from these excavated points have many rocks therefore not suitable for backfilling, foreign soil without rocks is recommended for backfilling. Also, wild animals could fall into these trenches and cause unnecessary leakages.
Fig 3. Flooding due to leakages
CHAMBERS
Along the pipelines from boreholes 4 and 5, we have six chambers where the air valves have been installed, most of them a filled with water most of the time, the air valves are not in the right working conditions, others have rusted and have small holes.
THE METERS
All the working boreholes have water meters at the borehole site; Borehole 4 water meter is stalled; it does not move, so you can’t know the amount of water pumped to the elevated tank. The others are in the right working conditions. We used to record the meter reading and submit to Solomon, but of late, this does not happen.
The 4″ PVC outlets from elevated tanks I and two have water meters too, but both of them are stalled. They don’t move, so it’s challenging to know the amount of water used.
Fig 4. Rusty water meters
ACCESS ROAD TO THE ELEVATED TANKS
We used to have a right road from borehole two via borehole 1 to the elevated tanks. Still, after the heavy rains last year, the road is no longer passable, we are often forced to find a way across the grassland to reach the tanks, we have a very rough road from the wildlife area near boreholes 4 and 5 following the pipeline to the elevated tanks.
THEFT
We had steel tubes that were erected as scaffolds if you need to access the interconnection points at both tanks, but they have since been looted. Our interconnection needs to be tied to the support bars of the elevated tanks.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- All the open trenches to be backfilled with foreign material
- An access road along the pipeline and to the elevated
- All the chambers with air valves to be serviced or the air valves to be replaced
- All the stalled meters to be replaced or serviced
- The elevated tanks area should be fenced to enhance security
OTHER ISSUES IN THE CAMP
Batching toilets
Whenever the intake levels of wastewater at the Integra plant raises, the sewage overflows in the batching toilet. This condition causes some foul smell in the batching plant area hence a nuisance to these people and the environment around this place. At this moment the toilets are completely closed and not usable.
so:
- We can raise the toilet levels,
- We can block the sewer line at the chamber
- We can set up an in depended septic for these toilets
- We can build another one in a different location but within the batching compound with its septic
Main storage tanks
The top interconnection at the main storage tanks near the R.O Plant is not efficient. If we fill the tanks to the brim, a lot of water goes to waste at these interconnection points.so if we can have a larger diameter interconnection pipe, maybe 75mm or 90mm, then we can minimize these problems.