SA Affordable Housing November / December 2017 // Issue: 67 | Page 26

FEATURES
Saving the planet one
drop at a time
Save water the natural way.
By Rehann Coétzee
aWetbox filtering water for reuse in a lake.
S
upplying affordable houses to people who need them
is only the first step in establishing sustainable
communities. With affordable housing comes the
need for electricity, water and other services such as
refuse removal and sewage disposal.
Recent droughts and resultant water shortages made
South Africans aware once again of how precious water
resources are and how crucial it is to use these sparingly.
Coupled with the financial pressure inhabitants of low-cost
housing communities often are under, the importance of
water that is accessible and affordable cannot be
over-emphasised.
The Constitution of South Africa has placed a legal
obligation on the government to realise the right to
sufficient water for all citizens of the country. However, in
some municipal areas communities don’t have access to
water at all and in other areas people do not have access to
water for up to 20 hours a day as a result of issues with
water supply and failing water infrastructure.
Yolandi Schoeman, a Klerksdorp innovator and owner of
Baoberry Ecological Engineering Innovations, is passionate
about supplying water in a safe and sustainable manner to
vulnerable communities. For Schoeman, who holds a
Master’s degree in environmental management from the
University of the Free State, it is all about ecological
engineering innovation, sustainability leadership
and entrepreneurship.
And the judges of the 2016 Global Cleantech Innovation
Programme for SMEs in South Africa (GCIP-SA) certainly
agreed with her. Her water re-use and recycling solution
24
NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2017
AFFORDABLE
SA HOUSING
aWetbox being used in a residential area.
– called aWetbox − was awarded top innovation of
the programme.
“The idea of aWetbox came about after I had spent quite
some time in rural communities while doing studies on
water security,” says Schoeman, a certified environmental
impact assessment practitioner with the Environmental
Assessment Practitioners of South Africa Association. “I
saw how people carried water home from rivers over long
distances. Others have to use water from boreholes that
isn’t very clean; some have access to rainwater, but only
during the rainy season.”
“The current ways of water treatment in poor
communities are very limited, and people are often
advised to boil water before they use it. This is not always
effective and they are exposed to smoke at installations
where the water is being boiled.”
She says there has to be a more natural way to improve
water quality.
“Initially I thought it would be i