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The ongoing drought and water crisis in SA South Africa should be a wake-up call to everyone.
The country is sadly unprepared for water restrictions and it is clear there is a need to invest in alternative water resources.
Two entrepreneurs who know what it is like to grow up without safe drinking water or adequate sanitation are Zintle Apleni and Morgan Mlungu.
Because They spent their childhood in rural East London where pit latrines posed various hazards and clean water was difficult to reach. they knew they wanted to make a difference in their community.
Their business, Ucoceko Water Projects, provides sanitation and water treatment services to rural communities where there is little or no infrastructure for clean domestic water and sanitation.
“We want to help people living in rural areas, especially those not connected to the bulk infrastructure, to access better options,”, said Apleni said.
Established in 2017, Ucoceko Water Projects was initially the brainchild of Mlungu’s brainchild.
The chemical engineer who has 15 years’ experience in process engineering, pre-treatment and phosphating, corrosion prevention processes and waste water storage.
Apleni, on the other hand, knew she wanted to impact her community and used her wealth of experience in promotions and business, in partnership with Mlungu, to improve the lives of people who are usually overlooked by municipalities when it comes to service delivery.
“We are trying to change the sanitation system that is used in Eastern Cape schools by encouraging them to replace pit latrines with flushing toilets.
“We install biogas digesters that will allow schools to produce their own gas and in turn teach pupils about new technologies.
“Biogas is a renewable and clean source of energy and it also helps reduce our reliance on fossil fuels such as oil and coal,” Apleni said.
Mlungu said: “Because water is so scarce, especially in far-flung villages and towns, Ucoceko has come up with alternative and affordable water resources which are useful in times of water restrictions.” Mlungu said.
They provide these services: Water storage tank cleaning ,Recording water tank measurements,Testing of pH ,Water storage,Water tank cleaning,Water replacement ,Desalination of water to housing developments and road construction during water restrictions.
Ucoceko distributes chlorine gas and sodium hypochloride to water treatment plants to purify water and sanitise water storage facilities.
It also distributes undercounter filters and water purification jugs and installs filtration systems.
