SA’s worst drought ever recorded may be largely broken, but there is no room for complacency in a country where water scarcity remains a very real threat to economic sustainability.
Hammering this home, Strategic Water Partners Network (SWPN) project manager Nick Tandi warns that without concerted action to reduce consumption, SA’s total water resources will fall 17% short of supply in just over a decade.
Water supply shortfalls are a threat that brought companies and the department of water affairs together in 2011 to form the SWPN.
The network now has 20 core corporate members, including Coca-Cola SA, Woolworths, Nestlé, SA Breweries (SAB) and Sasol, says Tandi.
Another priority is elimination of alien vegetation, which draws more than 7% of SA’s water resources.
"In 2010 we set a target of reducing our water consumption by 20% by 2020.
"Every year we set increasingly demanding water-savings goals," says Thole-Muir.
Not all companies consume the volume of water that Coca-Cola SA does, but they are still making a meaningful contribution to water saving.
Recycling is a key target.
Water saving initiatives by corporates, state-owed entities and municipalities will go a long way to reduce SA’s water supply deficit to below 17% by 2030, says Tandi.