EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
are not just looking at carbon footprints anymore but water , too . For instance , when consuming meat , one must actually consider how much water in total was used to produce that product .
A panel discussion took place where various presenters discussed their own experiences .
LEADING BY EXAMPLE
JG Afrika , Growth Point properties , The Vineyard Hotel , South African Breweries ( SAB ), and Netcare showcased their water journey successes .
The City of Cape Town put in a lot of effort to promote water saving , including this colourful visual display . ( Now it seems 87 litres was still conservative .)
John Stenslunde of SAB presented on the various water initiatives in place at the SAB Newlands Brewery . Fortunately , the Newlands Brewery draws all its water usage from a natural spring and has no usage taken from the City ’ s supply of potable water . Elsewhere in the country , SAB has managed to realise a 21 % reduction in water usage . This was done by swift action in repairing any leaks and monitoring of usage with daily reporting .
Roy Davies , general manager of The Vineyard Hotel , also recounted their water-saving initiatives . He was upbeat and said initially , they were hesitant as to what could be done about water usage . They started by fitting meters in different parts of the hotel to monitor where the water was being used . For instance , they identified that in the kitchen , the water usage was extremely high . They then went further and identified that the water was actually from a dishwasher and this machine was bypassing water at a fantastic rate . They immediately got that repaired and saved thousands of litres per month .
“ Our guests have become very supportive of all our water-saving initiatives . One lady guest even handed in her bath plug as she thought it had been left there by mistake . Through various staff and guest awareness programmes , The Vineyard managed to save 24.5 % on water from April to September 2017 when compared to the same period the year before ,” Davies said .
Following on the panel discussion , the signed pledge by the Cape Town members of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa ( FEDHASA ) to reduce water consumption and in all their facilities , presented by Jeff Rosenberg , Cape chairperson , received a rousing applause by all the delegates . “ FEDHASA Cape supports the Western Cape province and the City of Cape
A panel of key players from JG Afrika , Growth Point properties , The Vineyard Hotel , South African Breweries ( SAB ), and Netcare showcased their water journey successes .
Town ’ s water-saving initiatives and we challenge all associations and businesses to take urgent action to save water .”
SAVING WATER IN REFRIGERATION
In refrigeration , the use of evaporative condensers is of major concern . Kevin Schlemmer of CoolCheck drew the attention of delegates to how water usage of evaporative condensers is influenced by the efficiency of the plant . The water usage on many systems would be reduced significantly if the plants were operating more efficiently .
“ HVAC & R systems with cooling towers can consume as much as 50 % of the potable water in commercial buildings . For industrial food production and agroprocessing , this usage can increase to 80 %,” explained Schlemmer .
WATER SAFETY
There was a great deal of emphasis on the fact that one has to be cautious in terms of using grey water . There are by-laws that govern water that comes into contact with the body , such as drinking water and even the water in swimming pools . Treatment is crucial to ensure safety .
DAY ZERO
It is now a couple of months later and we are inching closer to Day Zero …
Have all the promises and talk of 19 October materialised ? According to some politicians , it is inevitable that Cape Town becomes the first metropole city in the world to have the taps run dry in May 2018 .
Officially , at the time of going to print , the date has moved out to mid-May thanks to a drop off in agricultural use of water . Currently , the agriculture sector is drawing about 30 % of the water in the supply scheme . According to the City , this should fall to about 15 % in March and 10 % in April .
As of 1 February 2018 , level 6B water restrictions and tariffs have come into effect to help finance water services and to reduce usage .
To cover the costs of water and sanitation provision , and to assist in driving down demand further , the water and sanitation tariffs have been increased . The tariffs remain based on usage . The more you use , the more you pay . High users will be hit especially hard . The City claims not to make a profit on the sale of water .
New rates and level 6B restrictions are part of the City ’ s efforts to avoid Day Zero and to create financial stability for the provision of water services . Although usage is down from 1.1 billion litres a day to just under 600 million litres a day , it needs to get to 450 million litres of collective usage a day to avoid Day Zero . CLA
26 www . coldlinkafrica . co . za COLD LINK AFRICA • March | April 2018