Why making your business water resilient makes financial sense

The document argues that investing in water resilience makes financial sense regardless of whether water tariffs are strict or relaxed. It models three business scenarios—a medium-sized office, a medium-sized manufacturing facility, and a large manufacturing facility—demonstrating that solutions like smart metering, retrofitting, and rainwater harvesting can reduce municipal water reliance by up to 70% and lower water-related costs by 60%. All modelled solutions are projected to pay for themselves in under six years.

• Investing in water efficiency and alternative water sources can significantly lower business costs and municipal dependence, with the potential to reduce reliance on municipal water by up to 70% and save 60% in water-related business costs.
• For a medium-sized office (200 people, 5 kl/day), tap and toilet retrofits are highly efficient, with payback periods of 1 year under Level 1 restrictions and 6 months under Level 6 restrictions. Rainwater harvesting is identified as the most financially viable alternative water source for this business type.
• In a medium-sized inorganic manufacturing facility (textile company, 200 kl/day), smart metering offers the strongest business case with a payback period of 1 year under Level 1 restrictions and 6 months under Level 6 restrictions. Other viable options include inorganic effluent reuse (70% recovery), treated municipal effluent (50% reduction), and rainwater harvesting (44% reduction).
• For large organic manufacturing facilities (food and beverage, 1,000 kl/day), organic effluent reuse is the most expensive option with the longest payback period, although it provides the highest water savings. Other options include groundwater production (20% reduction) and smart metering (5% reduction).
• Across all three modelled business contexts, every proposed water resilience solution is estimated to pay for itself in less than six years under both Level 1 and Level 6 restriction tariffs.

APA

Fundikwa, B. (2018). Why making your business water resilient makes financial sense. GreenCape. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/WATER-INTERVENTIONS-INDUSTRY-BRIEF-INTERACTIVE-3.pdf

Chicago

Fundikwa, Bridget. Why making your business water resilient makes financial sense. GreenCape, 2018. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/WATER-INTERVENTIONS-INDUSTRY-BRIEF-INTERACTIVE-3.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Fundikwa |first1=Bridget |title=Why making your business water resilient makes financial sense |publisher=GreenCape |date=March 2018 |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/WATER-INTERVENTIONS-INDUSTRY-BRIEF-INTERACTIVE-3.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fundikwa2018why, author = {Fundikwa, Bridget}, title = {{Why making your business water resilient makes financial sense}}, institution = {GreenCape}, year = {2018}, month = mar, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/WATER-INTERVENTIONS-INDUSTRY-BRIEF-INTERACTIVE-3.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }