City hotels cut water usage

WITH level 5 water restrictions in effect, the local hotel industry has also come on board in implementing shortand long-term initiatives to save water.

The Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa’s (Fedhasa) Cape chairperson, Jeff Rosenberg, said member establishments were doing all they could to make sure they saved water.

“As we face this drought disaster, we are reminded every day that we simply cannot do without water. It’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure we do our bit to conserve and take care of this scarce, much-needed natural resource,” he said.

Through its water-saving efforts, Hotel Verde Cape Town Airport has only used 35% of water required by a hotel of the same size, saving 65%.

They have introduced a grey water recycling system, increased educational signage throughout the hotel informing guests of the water crisis and also encouraged shorter showers while enforcing the use of the half-flush buttons on all toilets.

General manager Lindy Meiring said: “Hotel Verde Cape Town Airport has focused on sustainable tourism since opening in 2013. With water restrictions reaching level 5, it has been necessary for all businesses in the region to operate more sustainably and Hotel Verde has increased our efforts to save even more water and create awareness with all our patrons and staff.”

Over the long term, they have also been looking at installing low-flow technology to save more water and investigated a reverse osmosis plant to reduce the hotel’s dependency on the municipal water supply.

In the last six months Tsogo Sun Hotels in Cape Town have reduced water usage by nearly 300 000 litres a day.

Among others they have removed bath plugs from bathrooms to discourage guests from taking a bath, changed bed linen only on guests’ departure and installed water restrictors on shower heads.

The city’s dam levels remain critically low, with storage levels currently at 37.2% and useable water at 27.2%.