INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
FEATURE
Retail must adapt to cope with water crisis
By South African Council for Shopping Centres ( SACSC )
As Cape Town approaches the dreaded Day Zero when the taps will run dry so to speak , retailers and shopping centres have to rethink their strategies to ensure survival .
Cape Town is now regarded as the first major city in the world to run out of water . Current dam levels in the city are currently around 26.5 %, stabilised temporarily by the 10 billion litres that had been made available to Cape Town by the Groenland Water User Association in Grabouw recently .
Jeremy Naidoo , water production scientist , said that parts of the Western Cape lie in a winter rainfall region — meaning that most of the rain falls during South Africa ’ s winter months ( June – August ). “ In the event that rain does not fall , the Western Cape region will likely be declared a disaster area . Day Zero has already been predicted by the relevant authorities to occur as early as May 2018 in the event that the population of the Western Cape does not adhere to the strict water restrictions ,” he said .
According to Naidoo , the two main solutions to deal with the crisis are groundwater abstraction and watersaving technologies . “ In my opinion , the most attention should be given to groundwater abstraction and water-saving technologies as a quick intervention to deal with the current disaster . Groundwater abstraction should be increased in a sustainable manner to prevent depletion and failure of
Theewaterskloof Dam storage percentage since 2013 ( NASA , 2017 ).
Table 1 : Dam percentage comparison of the six largest dams in the Western Cape Dam
River
Dam % Feb 2018
Dam % Feb 2017
Theewaterskloof Dam Riviersonderend River 13.1 33.6 20.5 Brandvlei Dam Lower Brandvlei River 16.6 31.5 14.9 Kwaggaskloof Dam Doorn River 21.5 32.8 11.3 Voëlvlei Dam Voëlvlei River 18.3 42.4 24.1 Berg River Dam Berg River 52.7 48.2 4.5 Clanwilliam Dam Olifants River 16.6 51.1 34.5
Source : Department of Water and Sanitation , 2018
Difference % groundwater resources . Water-saving technologies need to be implemented to increase the efficiency of water use , especially in the case of commercial agriculture ,” he said .
Businesses in Cape Town have to implement effective water-saving measures in a bid to avoid the looming reality of most taps being turned off when water storage reaches 13.5 %.
The shopping centre and retail industry in Cape Town has already begun rolling out plans and campaigns to cope with the approaching Day Zero .
Aspects of the retail and shopping centre industry that are directly affected by this crisis are :
• Building safety : All major shopping centres are sprinkler protected . The reduction in water pressure results in inadequate pressure for sprinklers to operate .
• Food preparation : Restaurants and supermarkets need water to trade . Water supply interruptions impact on their business and also poses a health risk insofar as that the necessary cleaning cannot be done .
COLD LINK AFRICA • March | April 2018 www . coldlinkafrica . co . za 39