FEATURES
“
In the meantime, treated
wastewater is being made
available to businesses.”
Construction sites are mostly affected by water shortages.
must implement restrictions to reduce
consumption by 45% compared to
pre-drought levels. The short-term solution
is to place as little pressure for demand on
the munici pal potable water supply.
“Unfortunately, some construction
methods and processes cannot use raw
water from canals or vleis and permission
to abstract water from rivers and wetlands
for commercial purposes requires a lengthy
‘Water Use’ application via the National
Government,” explains the councillor.
As much as the drought doesn’t affect a
big part of the steel or timber industry, it
does affect those who work on site.
“Cement work is water intensive and this
work is necessary for the steel
infrastructures to go up, to which we fit our
roof sheeting. If the one doesn’t happen,
the rest won’t,” says Jaco du Plooy
from Safintra.
According to various construction and
property firms that operate in Cape Town,
they implemented water management
strategies years ago. Councillor Limberg
states that all contractors were instructed a
few months ago already to investigate
alternative water sources – such as
installing boreholes at construction sites so
that they are not reliant on potable water.
And fortunately, construction companies
have taken it upon themselves to alleviate
the state’s water pressures by building
energy and water efficiencies into
their operations.
“At a recent Green Building Council
conference, many property developers
shared how they were adapting and
building water efficiencies into their work.
I am confident that we will see clever and
smart adaptations in design and building
materials to address this,” says
councillor Limberg.
With Day Zero looming, sustainability
consultants, Ecolution Consulting, have
seen an increase in queries, intervention
installations, campaigns, communications
and behaviour change initiatives across
many industries.
“More companies and individuals now
want to install alternative water sources to
ensure business continuity and / or luxury
which has resulted in alternative water
design, supply and installers as well as tank
manufacturers and borehole drillers to
reach their capacity. In the same vein, water
efficiency fittings and devices are in high
demand as many individuals and
companies attempt to do the right thing
and bring their consumption in line with
the restrictions, resulting in suppliers of
these products often being out of stock,”
says founder and sustainability engineer of
Ecolution, André Harms.
The City has implemented measures for
construction companies to adhere as a
response to the drought and its possible
knock-on effect. “Companies who are
contracted by the City for City-related
projects such as road construction, road
maintenance and housing developments
are using metered standpipes. They are
paying for the water that is being used on
site,” says Councillor Limberg.
Councillor Limberg, expresses that finding a
way to work out the situation requires a
balance between residents and businesses
that drive the local economy. “We must
secure our residents’ access to potable
water, but we also need to be careful not to
destroy the very businesses that keep our
local economy running and provide job
security to our residents.”
Solutions, solutions,
solutions
The drought may lead to many crisis,
however Du Plooy from Safintra says that
this allows us to relook at how we were
doing things, “A drought is a risk, where
there is risk there is also opportunity to
innovate and redesign.”
As the world looks to Cape Town as a
pre-cursor for global water scarcity and
other climate change related issues, general
demand is growing for efficiency,
alternative sources and green building
consulting services such as those of
Ecolution Consulting. “Innovation regarding
available technologies to save and make
available alternative water sources is
escalating resulting in more options
entering the market. As the cost of water
also increases, efficiency and alternative
water source projects become increasingly
financially attractive and sought after,”
Harms shares.
The City is making treated wastewater
available to businesses dependent on
water. “By using treated water, businesses
are reducing their use and reliance on
drinking water. This is one of many ways in
which the City and businesses are adapting
to water scarcity and stretching drinking
water supplies for essential use,” says
the councillor.
Treated effluent is the final product from
the treatment of sewers which meets the
general authorisation standard for
discharge into the rivers for irrigation. It is
further filtered and pumped into the
RESIDENTIAL // COMMERCIAL // INDUSTRIAL
MARCH 2018
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