Cape Town: South African organisations integrated water resilience into the core business and growth strategies, to tackle the current and future challenges. The key insights have emerged from Wesgro’s annual Business Outlook event, hosted on Wednesday, August 14, 2024 in partnership with GreenCape, which is a non-profit focused on advancing green economy solutions.
The event was based on the theme, ‘Towards Water Resilience’. It also brought together the public and private sector leaders at Investec’s Cape Town offices to discuss the approaches for enhancing water security amidst the growing global focus on climate change and its impact on vital water resources.
Highlight of the event was the launch of the CEO Guide to Water Resilience that features best practices, business case studies and practical recommendations, such as setting the internal water use targets, implementing the onsite water reuse and exploring alternative water sources such as rainwater harvesting, treated effluent and desalination, that removes salt and other minerals from sea water, making it suitable for human consumption.
The drought between 2016-18 in Cape Town dubbed as ‘Day Zero’, led to an estimated R15 billion in direct economic losses, that brought to the fore the urgent need for water resilience to prevent the similar impacts in the future.
Water resilience involved the capacity of water systems, consisting of ecosystems, infrastructure and communities to withstand, adapt to and recover from disturbances like droughts, floods, contamination and climate change.
CEO of Wesgro – Wrenelle Stander noted that since the inception of the industries, especially the agriculture, it heavily relies on water, strengthening water resilience which is essential for reducing economic losses and food insecurity.
Stander said that long-term water resilience is crucial for companies that aims to mitigate or adapt shocks and stresses. Whereas, resilience thinking is still emerging in many South African sectors. It is vital that businesses integrate water resilience into their core strategies and success, which will require coordinated efforts, transparency and aligned goals among all stakeholders.
Considering this, the national government recently focused on the need to increase private sector investment in the water sector, following a model similar to that in the energy sector. This essential move aims to improve water security and prevent shortages.
The Wesgro CEO outlined the importance of collective action among government, citizens and businesses to secure a water-resilient future. Along with climate change which likely to intensify droughts in South Africa.
She pointed out that infrastructure projects will range from surface and groundwater to desalination and water reuse. However, she warned that without reducing water demand, even the planned infrastructure and expanded water sources might fall short by the year 2030, as the demand reduction is critical.
The Innovation and strategic partnerships between the private sector and public institutions are also vital for building a water-resilient future that supports economic growth and social stability.
Notably, Wesgro has been proactive in supporting investments in innovative water solutions. For instance, the organisation helped KaacKai, a local leader in smart wastewater recovery pods, in securing approval for a decentralised wastewater treatment system in Cape Town, as the first since the Day Zero drought crisis.