Building economic resilience to water scarcity in Cape Town: supporting industry through severe droughts

This case study describes how GreenCape, a not-for-profit organisation, provided support to water-intense industrial sectors in Cape Town during the severe drought of 2015-2018. The initiative aimed to help businesses reduce water consumption to maintain operations while adhering to a 45% water restriction.

• GreenCape implemented a four-part strategy to build industrial resilience: developing partnerships and networks, prioritising and coordinating efforts, driving the uptake of short-term solutions, and building capacity for long-term solutions.
• To maximise the impact of its support, GreenCape prioritised seven industries based on the metrics of moderate-to-heavy water use and the number of jobs they supported within the city.
• GreenCape developed a 'Water Resilience Journey' methodology to guide businesses through a logical progression of water-saving options, highlighting that costs and complexity increase as businesses move from understanding risk to implementing alternative water supplies.
• Between June 2017 and August 2018, GreenCape provided direct assistance to nearly 400 businesses. A survey of these businesses indicated that 76% found the support very helpful, and the assisted companies achieved an average reduction in water consumption of 41%.
• Surveyed businesses invested in several adaptation measures: 79% in alternative water resources, 73% in monitoring and measurement of water usage, 73% in efficient behaviours, and 66% in onsite water reuse.
• The laundry industry was initially overlooked in the prioritisation process due to a lack of disaggregated data and the absence of an industry body, leaving it vulnerable to increased tariffs and declining demand from tourists and locals.
• The 'Smart Water Meter Challenge' leveraged businesses as corporate citizens to install meters in schools; by November 2018, 93 companies had pledged support, reaching 358 schools.

APA

GreenCape (2019). Building economic resilience to water scarcity in Cape Town: supporting industry through severe droughts. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20190425-GreenCape-Resilience-Reports-WaterB-FA-Interactive2-3.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Building economic resilience to water scarcity in Cape Town: supporting industry through severe droughts. 2019. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20190425-GreenCape-Resilience-Reports-WaterB-FA-Interactive2-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Building economic resilience to water scarcity in Cape Town: supporting industry through severe droughts |date=2019 |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20190425-GreenCape-Resilience-Reports-WaterB-FA-Interactive2-3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencape2019building, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Building economic resilience to water scarcity in Cape Town: supporting industry through severe droughts}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2019}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20190425-GreenCape-Resilience-Reports-WaterB-FA-Interactive2-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }