V&A digs in to cut wastage

THE V&A Waterfront has raised concerns about the effect water cuts would have on its business.

But the site management at one of the city’s top tourist attractions is making plans to deal with cuts. The Waterfont’s chief executive David Green said it has cut water use by 53% since 2010.

“This was achieved through a number of measures, including the use of borehole and grey water for toilets and irrigation, installing water- efficient fittings and proactive pressure management and aggressive leak detection,” said Green.

He said: “We’re currently cutting water to all taps, bar one, in each of our public bathrooms, and replacing (this) with hand sanitisers.

“In addition, we’ve allocated part of our land to the City of Cape Town to install one of their temporary desalination plants. Currently being built, this plant should be operating and producing water by the end of March,” said Green.

“The V&A Waterfront’s long-term plan is to build our own additional sea water desalination plant, over and above that being built by the city on our premises.

“This will virtually take the precinct off the City of Cape Town’s municipal water supply. We have accelerated this build process and aim to have this producing potable water by next year.”

Virgin Active has installed low-flow showerheads and taps at 30 gyms in the Western Cape. It also has 40 rainwater harvesting tanks to “store water we procure through donations”.

Virgin’s managing director, Ross Faragher-Thomas, said yesterday that they had “reduced water consumption by 53% over 2016”.

Hyprop Investments, owners of Canal Walk Shopping Centre, Cape Gate and Somerset Mall, has set aside R19 million to “safeguard against future water stress.”