AHK Southern Africa WECISA

The initial situation

Many companies in Southern Africa are encountering problems with their water supply, which has a negative impact on their productivity. At the same time, they are frequently unaware of how much water they are consuming, how much wastewater they are discharging or what options exist to reduce operating costs by saving water. Knowledge of the water balance of a company is the most important part of water management. However, many companies have neither the knowledge nor the human resources to tackle water efficiency issues internally.

The approach

The project will support six to eight regional commercial and industrial companies in Southern Africa in their intention to understand and control their water use, reduce their water consumption and raise their resilience to water supply problems. Expertise regarding environmental technologies and intelligent solutions for monitoring water consumption is communicated to companies in workshops and through individual consultation.

The objectives and measures

The participating companies can permanently reduce their water consumption due to the project. At the same time, they create a basis for future, more capital-intensive projects such as the use of rainwater or the treatment and reuse of wastewater.

They are instructed to this effect by experts in order to develop a corporate guideline for water management and a water management plan (WMP) for their location. Together with the experts, the companies ascertain where intelligent water meters need to be installed in order to exactly monitor the processes that consume the most water (submetering). They are given support in changing behaviour and optimising processes in accordance with their water management plan.

At the end of the project, the participants examine how much water and costs have been saved during the project. The results, as well as the dos and don'ts, will be shown by way of company presentations, a documentation video at an expert conference and on the project website with other industries, companies and relevant public institutions. Two years after the end of the project, the participating companies will publish their current water balances and savings on an online platform, in order to motivate other companies to imitate them and draw an economic benefit from the project results.