SABS Water Specification

palmerc

palmerc

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OK Guys and Gals,

Here it is.

Basically you get Class I and Class II specs for water. I am going to give the class I specs (class II in brackets).

According to the SANS 241 std., water can be passed at Class II for human consumption for short periods. They do strive to meet Class I specs consistently though.


results in ppm (except pH )

Dissolved solids (TDS) - <1000 (1000-2400ppm)
pH 5.0-10.0 (4.0-10.0)
Ammonia (as N) <1.0 (1.0-2.0)
Nitrate and nitrite (as N) <10 (10-20)
Calcium as Ca <200 (200-600)
Fluoride (F) < 1.0 (1.0-1.5)
Magnesium <70 (70-100)
Potassium <50 (50-100)
Sodium <200 (200-400)
Sulphate <400 (400-600)
Zinc <5 (5-10)

The rest are in parts per billion

Aluminium <300 (300-500)
Sb (Antimony) <10 (10-50)
Arsenic <10 (10-50)
Cadmium <5 (5-10)
Chromium <100 (100-150)
Cobalt <500 (500-1000)
Copper <1000 (1000-2000)
Cyanide <50 (50-70)
Iron <200 (200-2000)
Lead <20 (20-50)
Manganese <100 (100-1000)
Mercury <1 (1-5)
Nickel <150 (150-350)
Selenium <20 (20-50)
Vanadium <200 (200-500)

DOC (ppm) <10 (10-20)


No specification for phosphates is in the std

So there are some not so nice values there which would be quite problematic. Actual results would vary from municipality to municipality depending on source water.

I did get some actual results previously from ERWAT (East Rand) which were pretty good (way at bottom of Class I specs), but these cannot always be guaranteed as the std does allow for much higher values.

So basically do not use tap water for your marine tank.

Personally though if I really needed to I would use a small amount (not more than around 5%-10%) of system volume if I was really in a pickle and could not get any RO. But this is in extreme circumstances only and once-off, not for weekly top-ups or water changes
 
Thank you for that Clinton.is there any way possible to have a test done on all the above parameteres using the organic water from an RO machine?
 
A VERY interesting article Clinton! I appreciate it! Thanks.
Perhaps anyone else can add some info from their specific local municipalities?

Clinton - where would one get this type of information? The water-board? Municipality?
 
palmerc said:
OK Guys and Gals,

Here it is.

Basically you get Class I and Class II specs for water. I am going to give the class I specs (class II in brackets).

According to the SANS 241 std., water can be passed at Class II for human consumption for short periods. They do strive to meet Class I specs consistently though.


results in ppm (except pH )

Dissolved solids (TDS) - <1000 (1000-2400ppm)
pH 5.0-10.0 (4.0-10.0)
Ammonia (as N) <1.0 (1.0-2.0)
Nitrate and nitrite (as N) <10 (10-20)
Calcium as Ca <200 (200-600)
Fluoride (F) < 1.0 (1.0-1.5)
Magnesium <70 (70-100)
Potassium <50 (50-100)
Sodium <200 (200-400)
Sulphate <400 (400-600)
Zinc <5 (5-10)

The rest are in parts per billion

Aluminium <300 (300-500)
Sb (Antimony) <10 (10-50)
Arsenic <10 (10-50)
Cadmium <5 (5-10)
Chromium <100 (100-150)
Cobalt <500 (500-1000)
Copper <1000 (1000-2000)
Cyanide <50 (50-70)
Iron <200 (200-2000)
Lead <20 (20-50)
Manganese <100 (100-1000)
Mercury <1 (1-5)
Nickel <150 (150-350)
Selenium <20 (20-50)
Vanadium <200 (200-500)

DOC (ppm) <10 (10-20)
Click to expand...

In your personal opinion what out of list is not good for human consumption ? I see things like Lead, mercury, cyanide, arsenic etc.

Are they such small quantities they won't harm us, or should we stay away from tap water for human consumption.
 
jacquesb said:
A VERY interesting article Clinton! I appreciate it! Thanks.
Perhaps anyone else can add some info from their specific local municipalities?

Clinton - where would one get this type of information? The water-board? Municipality?
Click to expand...


I'm not sure where one would be able to find actual test results but I would guess one of the municipality departments.

ERWAT (East Rand Water Treatment) does the testing for many companies/municipalities on that side of the world so they could maybe also direct you to the right department if you want to know specific results.

Mekaeel, The testing can be done. Not sure which labs in Durban do it. Individual tests are around R50-70 ea.
 
Last edited:
palmerc said:
OK Guys and Gals,


No specification for phosphates is in the std

So there are some not so nice values there which would be quite problematic. Actual results would vary from municipality to municipality depending on source water.
Click to expand...

Thanks Clinton. Out of interest, They closed a Coke factory in India last year because of unacceptably high phosphate levels. I would imagine then, that there has to be some kind of International maximum for its control. Do you know what that is?
 
sunburst said:
Thanks Clinton. Out of interest, They closed a Coke factory in India last year because of unacceptably high phosphate levels. I would imagine then, that there has to be some kind of International maximum for its control. Do you know what that is?
Click to expand...


I am not sure, but in South Africa each company/factory generating waste must be issued with a permit from the municipality stating what is/is not allowed to be disposed of by them. The limits are based on the total amount of effluent released and where it is released to and the levels of contaminants in that waste.

For instance if I wanted to let 50 litres of a solution with percentage levels of phosphate to effluent once a month, this would still be better than a factory pumping out thousands of litres of effluent a day containing say 10ppm phosphate.

If the permit requirments are not met then they can be fined or in extreme cases closed down
 
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