Big business often gets a bad rap as being self-serving and exploitive, but the contribution of some of Nelson Mandela Bay’s largest companies to alleviating the metro’s water crisis over the past few years tells a different story about the role of business in society.
It is, after all, business that creates jobs; government’s role is to create the enabling environment and when that is failing, it is business that steps into the service delivery gaps — such as in the water crisis, and in the process, contributing to ensuring equitable access to basic services.
Business in the metro, particularly the large manufacturers, has made great strides in reducing their consumption of municipal water, through measures such as harvesting rainwater, recycling and reusing greywater and process water, and generally becoming more water-efficient.
This frees up more water for use by residents and other, smaller businesses, while the investments of business in watersaving measures and technology contributes to creating more jobs and income along the supply chain.
Aspen Pharmacare, for example, consumes no municipal water at all.
A R60m investment in going “off grid” has freed up 1-million litres of water a day for use by municipal customers.
Continental Tyres has reduced its total water consumption from more than 140,000kl in 2015 to 53,351kl last year — a saving of more than 60% — through rainwater harvesting, reusing process water, refurbishing cooling towers to cut water losses and repairing leaks on site.
Isuzu Motors SA has installed 60kl of storage capacity for water harvested from the roofs of its plant, freeing up municipal water for other customers.
They have also sunk four boreholes to obtain water for manufacturing processes, which is then treated and reused for flushing in ablution facilities, saving a further 20kl per day.
Coca-Cola Beverages SA has taken numerous steps to reduce water usage and to recycle and reuse water used in its production processes.
Water used in bottle cleaning and rinsing is recovered and reused for cooling towers, ablutions and floor washing, while the process itself has been optimised to use less water.
In Kariega, Volkswagen SA has slashed municipal water consumption by more than 70% since 2010 and has a “zero water road map” that will take the plant to zero municipal water use as early as 2026.
The company invested R20m in a wastewater recycling facility in 2022, which recycles 150kl of wastewater per day and is being ramped up to 250kl per day.
A reverse osmosis system recycles brine/concentrate water for ablutions and washbays, saving more than 1,100kl of fresh water per year, while new rainwater harvesting installations this year will save an additional 6,000kl annually.
There are many more examples in the metro of companies making substantial efforts to reduce their water consumption, and most are willing to share lessons and advice with other companies and small businesses through the business chamber’s water task team.
Those above are mentioned particularly because they were singled out in an opinion article in Daily Maverick last week by two researchers, based on outdated and inaccurate data, as examples of the “the outsized influence businesses play in Nelson Mandela Bay’s water system”.
In fact, the industrial and commercial sector is responsible for 35% of the metro ’ s water consumption; the balance is domestic use.
While water-saving initiatives in manufacturing and other businesses are driven by the global pursuit of reducing consumption and waste of natural resources, especially in waterscarce countries like ours and in light of the impact of climate change, business in the metro has taken it a step further into the wider community during our current water crisis.
Last year, when the metro’s supply dams reached critically low levels and the prospect of dry taps was real, the Business Chamber initiated the Adopt-aLeak project to address the metro’s high rate of water losses due to leaks.
The project, funded and led by Aspen Pharmacare, Volkswagen SA and Continental Tyres; focused on addressing household leaks in seven impoverished areas of the metro that had the highest rates of water losses.
Over a period of six months, more than 4,200 households were assisted, resulting in a 23% reduction in water demand in these areas — saving over 1.5million litres per day of the metro’s treated water from going literally down the drain, a substantial and sustainable saving.
With schools accounting for 10% of water losses due to leaks, the chamber’s Adopt-a-School initiative has seen 76 schools across the metro assisted by business to date with repairing of leaks, upgrading plumbing for water efficiency, education on reducing water consumption, and installation of watersaving and harvesting measures including rainwater tanks and boreholes.
The companies who have been involved in this initiative include VWSA, Aspen, Continental Tyres, Isuzu, Coca-Cola and Ford.
Businesses in the metro have acted for the greater good and voluntarily filled service delivery gaps, going beyond their usual corporate social investment commitments.
It is indicative of the spirit of unity of business in the Bay, of willingness to roll up sleeves and work together to make a difference for all the people who live and work here.