CAPE TOWN - As festive season holidays begin Cape Town small businesses should be prepared for expensive and limited water, Sage said on Wednesday.
According to the city’s water dashboard, as of Tuesday, only 37% of residents were using less than 87 litres per person per day, as required.
The vice president for new customer acquisition at Sage Africa & Middle East, Verish Harduth notes that the small businesses' profits could be harmed by the charges and penalties of using more water than required under water restrictions.
Harduth shares a few steps that small businesses can adopt to contribute towards sustainable water use in the country, while optimising their business operations:
- Understand your water usage
This speaks to the specifics of water needed for business operations. Define how much you need for catering and staff use, production, watering gardens and so on. Then look at ways to reduce usage.
- Use water restriction technology
Install an aerator or flow restrictor on taps, and water-efficient urinals to use less water. Do away with automatic flushing urinals.
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- Educate employees
Constantly remind employees of how can they avoid waste - for example, by not leaving taps running when they wash their hands or their lunch dishes. Put water saving tips near kitchen and bathroom taps to remind team members of the importance of saving water.
- Reduce the car washing at the office block
- Encourage employees to report leaks witnessed in the building immediately
- Plant drought-tolerant, indigenous plants rather than thirstier alien plants
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"At this time of year, the heat increases the evaporation rate so intensified water savings are a must. We appeal to residents to please step up their water-saving efforts as we can only get through this together. The City will also continue its roll-out of water management devices to restrict households who are still using excessive amounts of water" said City of Cape Town Mayor, Patrica de Lille said.