Water Week

Increased awareness key to enhancing industrial water efficiency.

- Robyn Wilkinson

Increased awareness of the importance of water conservation and an enhanced sensitisation to practices that can facilitate it are some of the most effective means of eliciting a positive response to the drive to see that water efficiency practices are adopted in South Africa’s industrial settings, says National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC-SA) KwaZulu-Natal regional manager Kevin Cilliers.

In line with this, the NCPC-SA will roll out its Industrial Water Efficiency Project this year, which aims to transform industry’s approach to water use through the adoption of a systematic and holistic approach to water management.

Cilliers stresses that water efficiency need not necessarily involve capital-intensive initiatives. He recommends starting with optimising existing systems and operations and selecting options that are easy to implement. Moreover, he notes the importance of adequate monitoring and measurement in the organisation to fully understand the extent of water use and water disposal in each operation.