From wine waste to clean water

Abstract

Industrial water treatment South Africa’s wine industry has grown phenomenally over the last decade, mainly because the end of apartheid allowed access to international markets, but also due to a worldwide increase in wine consumption. At the same time, local winemakers have had to take heed of tighter legislative controls on environmental impacts, and a rise in consumer demand for ‘enviro-friendly’ products. While farming of any kind has a range of effects on the natural environment, at the cellar level it is wastewater that poses the most environmental risk. Large quantities of wastewater are generated during the wine-making process, particularly around harvest time, when grapes are crushed and the juice fermented. Since this water generally has a high organic content, is acidic, and contains both suspended and dissolved solids, it does not meet the stringent criteria set by the Department of Water Affairs & Forestry (DWAF) for disposal in a natural water resource. Most wineries therefore dispose of their wastewater by spraying it onto land.

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