Outright purchase
On quoteInstalled and commissioned
- Your operator trained free, supported remotely
- Running costs about R22 400 a year for one module, R16 400 for each extra
- Optional maintenance plan: R7 000 a month per site
Membranebioreactor
Treat it on site. Reuse the water.
LIVWaste×ModMBR™
- 10 kLA day per module
- 5–30mg/L COD out
- ~6 wksOrder to running
Welcome
A complete treatment works, in one module.
Each module treats 10 kL of sewage a day, about what ten 3-bedroom homes produce, and returns clear water for gardens, flushing and wash-down. Add modules as you grow.
LIVWaste×ModMBR™
Thetechnology
The plant in a column
Sewage goes in at the top. Clean water comes out at the pump box.
Everything a treatment works does, in one module that stands on 1.2 × 1.2 metres. ModMBR is designed, built and supported by Utico Water in Somerset West. LIVWater brings it to your site inside LIVWaste: designed, installed, financed and monitored as one closed-loop system. All LIVWaste technologies
10 kLA day, per module
5–30 mg/LTypical COD out
1.2 × 1.2 mFootprint, under 4 m tall
~6 weeksOrder to running plant
2.2 MLWater back a year*
R84–255kOff the bills a year*
2.0–5.9 yrsTo pay back*
2020Utico treating since
* One module taking the sewage of 8 homes (8 kL a day) in Johannesburg, Durban, Ekurhuleni, Cape Town or Tshwane, on 2026/27 commercial tariffs, excl. VAT, with 80% of the treated water reused.
How it works
From sewage to garden water, in one module.
A column 1.2 × 1.2 m on the ground and just under 4 m tall. Two simple steps ahead of it, one after. Excess sludge goes from the module to drying beds beside the slab.
- 01Screen
Catches rags, plastic and grit where the sewer arrives.
- 02Buffer
Holds a day's sewage and feeds the module evenly, so morning and evening peaks don't matter.
- 03Bioreactor
Air from the blower keeps the bacteria alive, and they digest the waste.
- 04Membranes
Hollow fibres, finer than bacteria, let only clean water through.
- 05Reuse
Clear water to storage for irrigation, flushing and wash-down. Not for drinking.
Anatomy
What's inside one module.
Four parts, one footprint. Tap a part, or a letter on the module, to find it.
- AEquipment box
The aeration blower, under the lid at the top.
- BMembrane cassette
Hollow-fibre membranes that the clean water is drawn through.
- CBioreactor
The tank where the bacteria do the work.
- DPump and control box
Permeate pump, controller and the link that reports to the monitoring platform.
Monitored, always
What we watch on every module.
Each module reports live. Your operator and our engineers see the same screens and get the same alarms, alongside the rest of your site in LIVSmart.
- 01Membrane suction
How hard the pump pulls through the membranes. A rising pull is the first sign they need a clean.
- 02Water level
The level in the module, which the pumps run to. Too high or too low raises an alarm.
- 03Blower and pumps
Aeration blower, permeate, transfer and dosing pumps: on or off, live.
- 04What it's doing
Treating, backwashing, wasting sludge, cleaning, paused, or stopped on a fault.
- 05Power and signal
Supply voltage and connection. A module that goes quiet raises an alarm.
- 06Alarms and remote help
Alarms by email to your operator and to us. Backwash, levels and software can all be handled remotely.
Water quality
How clean is the water that comes out?
Ranked by COD (chemical oxygen demand), the organic waste left in the water, in mg/L. Lower is cleaner. Each step on the scale is ten times more.
Range: the COD Utico's MBR plants typically achieve with the same membrane bioreactor process as ModMBR; a formal lab test at one plant measured 24. Limits: DWS General Authorisations 2013 (GN 665), table 2.1 and paragraph 2.7. Grey water: Hernández Leal et al. (2007), Water Science & Technology 56(5). Raw sewage: von Sperling (2007), Wastewater Characteristics, Treatment and Disposal.
- ModMBR-treated waterTypical for these MBR plants5–30 mg/L
Clean enough for a sensitive river
- Sensitive riverDWS special limit30
Clean enough for a sensitive river
- River releaseDWS general limit75
Clean enough to release into a river
- IrrigationDWS, up to 500 m³ a day400
Legal to irrigate with
- Grey waterHousehold average425
Average of 150 homes
- Raw sewageTypical domestic450–800
What goes in
What the treated water does on site
- GardensVictoria Falls · Franschhoek
- Car washIsuzu, Harare
- A damFilled at Franschhoek
- FlushingPlumbed to a separate line
- Not to drinkThat needs further treatment and disinfection; a membrane doesn't take out dissolved salts or nitrate.
The business case
When does it pay for itself?
One module taking the sewage of eight homes. Pick a metro and watch your position year by year: where the line crosses zero, the plant has paid for itself.
- Paid back in
- 2.0 yrs
- Net saving a year
- R 255 000
- Ahead after 7 years
- R 1.3m
| Water you no longer buy | +R165 714 |
|---|---|
| Sewer charge you no longer pay | +R130 178 |
| Electricity to run it | −R18 025 |
| Running costs: monitoring, membranes, chemicals, lab tests | −R22 400 |
| Net saving a year | R255 466 |
Johannesburg: R73.72–R77.77/kL water, R58.66/kL sewer, commercial, excl. VAT. Assumes 80% of the treated water is reused, the plant runs 95% of the year and uses 2.28 kWh/kL at R2.85/kWh. On a conservancy tank, your saving is the trucking instead. Figures are indicative; your proposal sizes your own site.
Projects
Installed and running.
A few of the sites running ModMBR, from the Western Cape to Zimbabwe, with more across five provinces.
Franschhoek valley, Western Cape. The treated water waters the gardens and fills the dam.
Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The treated water waters the gardens.
Harare, Zimbabwe. The treated water is used for washing cars.
Western Cape.
Every module is built and tested in the workshop before it goes to site.
Before the module, and beyond it
The same team, at every scale.
Utico Water engineered these plants to order before ModMBR existed, and still does for sites too big for modules. When your flow outgrows a row of modules, the people who built them design the plant.
- 25kL/dayMBR · 2020–21
Warwick Wine Estate
Treated wastewater reused for irrigation, to protect harvests through future droughts.
- 20kL/dayMBR · 2023
Beau Constantia
No sewer to connect to, so they treat on site. The treated water now fills their dams.
- 100kL/dayTo potable · 2023
In2Food, Bonaero Park
Industrial effluent turned into potable water and reused in the food factory.
- 600kL/dayMunicipal MBR · 2022
Napier
A municipal plant designed and specified by the same team.
Ownership
Buy it, rent it, or let us run it.
Same module, same monitoring. The difference is who owns it and who looks after it. All prices exclude VAT; on a rental you still pay for electricity, the civil works and the inlet screen.
Monthly rental, maintenance included
R14 500a month, first module · R8 000 each extra
- No capital outlay for the modules
- Owned, maintained, monitored and tested for you, membranes replaced
- 7-year minimum, rising with CPI from year 2
Water as a Service
From R0up front, on Owner-Operator
- ModMBR as part of a full LIVWaste and LIVReuse system
- Owner-Operator, Rent to Own or Outright Purchase
- Performance guaranteed, monitored by LIVSmart
After you order
From first call to treated water.
About six weeks from order to a running plant, if your civil works are ready in time.
- 01Site assessment
We confirm your daily flow, that it's domestic-strength sewage (800 mg/L COD or below) and how many modules you need.
- 02Proposal and layout
Choose how to own it. Your proposal comes with an indicative layout; the site drawing follows the site visit.
- 03Civil works
Slab, drying beds, buffer, inlet screen, power and a 2-bar water point, built to the drawing before delivery.
- 04Install and hand over
Built and tested in Somerset West, lifted onto the slab, commissioned, and your operator trained.
Questions
What buyers ask before they sign.
Space, smell, who runs it and how it grows. Something not covered? Ask us.
Ask an engineerHow much space does it need?
A module stands on about 1.2 × 1.2 m and is just under 4 m high. With its 10 kL buffer tank and drying beds, one module needs a slab of about 7.8 × 2.8 m, or 6.4 × 2.7 m with the buffer buried under the drying beds. Two modules need about 8.4 × 5.3 m with tanks, or 7.2 × 4.0 m. Sizes are indicative until the site drawing.
Does it smell?
The treatment happens in a closed, aerated tank, so it runs with low odour.
Who runs it day to day?
If you buy, your staff do, trained free and supported remotely. If you rent, or take it on a LIVWater service model, it is maintained for you.
Can I add capacity later?
Yes. Each module is a complete plant, so you add one beside the others without shutting them down.
What does my contractor build?
- 200 mm, 25 MPa reinforced concrete slab
- Sludge drying bed on sand and drainage stone, with a slotted drain pipe
- A buffer holding one day's flow, on the slab or buried under the drying beds, with a fat trap
- An inlet screen where the site sewer arrives; a stainless auger screen is recommended
- Dedicated single-phase 220–240 V supply under 10 A, with an isolator
- A 2-bar drinking-water point with a backflow preventer, for membrane backwash
- Storage and pipework for the treated water
What warranty do I get, and how long do the membranes last?
One year on all equipment, provided the plant is installed to instruction. The membranes last longer than five years in normal use; running costs budget for a new set every five years, to be safe.
Where is it made?
In Somerset West, by Utico Water (Pty) Ltd. Spares and support come from the same team, treating wastewater for South African sites since 2020.
Tell us about your site
© 2026 LIVWater · ModMBR™ is designed and built by Utico Water (Pty) Ltd, Somerset West · E&OE. All prices exclude VAT. Savings and payback are indicative; every plant is sized for its own flows, loads and site, and is subject to approvals.