Responsible
Tourism - South Africa
Water Management
What Is The Issue?
South Africa is one of few developing countries where it is safe to drink tap water. But water in South Africa is limited, requiring significant effort from everyone in the country to save existing water supplies for future generations.
In many tourism areas in South Africa, demand for water exceeds supply and is seriously straining available water resources. In addition to the water required in guest rooms, kitchens, laundries, swimming pools, lawns and golf courses add significantly to total use.
Tourism establishments also produce a great deal of waste water, which comes from washing machines, sinks, showers, baths and toilets. Sometimes this waste is untreated and bacteria and chemicals are discharged directly into the environment. Poor sewage treatment can pollute ground and surface water and degrade marine resources.
What Can You Do?
Set Targets
Set a feasible target for reducing water use (e.g. 5% reduction per year, over 3 years). Measure reductions in your water bills or pumping times and showcase your successes to staff and guests.
Check the relationship between the number of tourists you can accommodate and the volume of water used by setting a benchmark (e.g. 350 liters per bed night) and monitoring how the figure changes.
Design and Planning
Design water systems e.g. roof-fed water tanks to collect storm water for use in cleaning or landscaping.
Install low-flow or dual-flush toilets and waterless urinals.
Install smart pressure valves to regulate flow, solenoid valves to release water only when required and level controllers to avoid overflow.
Install tap aerators and low-flow showerheads.
Acquire water efficient washing machines and dishwashers.
Did You Know?
A water loss of 0.1 liter per minute will lead to an annual loss of 53 m3 - enough water to service over 2 000. South Africans for a year.
Washing a car uses between 400 and 1000 liters.
Water saving irrigation technologies can increase water use efficiency by 60 – 90%.
Tap aerators and low-flow showerheads ause 60% less water than conventional equipment.
Water efficient dishwashers use as little as 15 liters of water per cycle.
An Industry Initiative
The South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) has launched a project to ensure that hotels, conference venues and restaurants use water efficiently. Their intention is to promote improved plumbing technology and fixtures, the repair of leaks in hotels, conference venues and restaurants, the reduction of effluent, a water saving campaign for staff and guests and the evaluation of water usage. DWAF and the CSIR have developed a website to assist industry to reduce water consumption. (www.savewater.co.za)
Some Operational Tips
Saving Water
Service water pipes, valves, joints, pump seals, hoses, boilers and appliances regularly to prevent problems before they occur.
Install data loggers on meters for constant monitoring.
Look for fluctuations in pressure, flow and water use patterns to detect problems.
Fix leaking pipes and dripping taps immediately.
Use storm or gray water for irrigation or put timers on sprinklers to ensure you control water usage. Water gardens at cooler times of the day when there is less evaporation.
Use mulching during landscaping to reduce evaporation and run-off.
Treating Effluent
Separate effluent water into reusable and non-reusable streams. Use gray water from baths, showers and basins for landscaping and in toilets.
Ensure that toilets and associated waste systems are at least 30m away from a water source.
Use biodegradable, phosphorous-free detergents, which lower the nutrients in effluent.
Avoid getting solids such as food waste into effluent.
Regularly maintain and clean kitchen grease traps.
Septic Tanks
Undertake tests to determine soil infiltration rates and groundwater levels.
Locate your septic tank away from domestic water supplies, groundwater, rivers or lagoons.
Treat your septic tank effluent at a central point to remove nitrogen and allow bacteria and pathogens to die off.
Use dry composting toilets to reduce the load on septic tanks and other waste systems.
Who’s Doing It?
Grootbos Nature Reserve uses gray water from its laundry to water the horse paddock in front of its lodge, saving some 700 000 liters of water a year. The 3-hectare fynbos garden at Grootbos has been designed using water-wise indigenous plants and buffalo grass lawns to minimize the need for watering.
The Sandton Convention Centre reduced kitchen water use by 70% in two weeks by creating staff awareness about water efficiency and installing a water meter in the kitchen to monitor use.
The three luxury lodges at Sabi Sabi Game Reserve have reed-bed waste-water purification systems, which not only provide a valuable habitat for wildlife, such as birds, amphibians and invertebrates, but also purify the waste sewage and washing water before it is returned to the environment.
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