This week’s Water File focuses on the plans businesses should have in place to reduce water demand and prepare for a Day Zero in their operations.
1. How will the drought and the prospect of Day Zero impact on my workplace?
If water is an essential part of your business, you will probably be doing things differently to adhere to water restrictions.
If you are in an office job, by now you should have altered the bathroom etiquette around non-flushing and use of hand sanitisers. But in a Day Zero scenario there might be shorter shifts, flexitime or work-from-home arrangements. There might even be complete shutdowns and possible retrenchments. It will depend on your industry and the level of continuity planning.
2. What plans should be put in place and what questions should I be asking my employer?
Your business or workplace should have cut water use by 45%. Ask management to show you evidence of how much water your company was using in 2015, and how much now.
Ask if your workplace has a business continuity plan and incident response plan around the drought and Day Zero, and for it to be circulated, to give you an idea what will happen to you as a staff member.
See if there is clarity around reduced working hours, shifts, flexitime or working from home. Who has to be at work no matter what (essential services)?
Are individual staff circumstances, such as parents with young children whose crèche might close, factored into such a scenario? How will time needed to queue at distribution points for water be managed?
3. I have been told by my boss that there is a risk of shutdown and me losing my job. What can I do?
Retrenchments are a realistic and worst-case possibility for employees in industries dependent on water, for example, laundries, textile manufacturers, printers, food-and-beverage manufacturers, gardening services, pharmacies, gyms, plant nurseries, agriculture, hairdressers, bottle-washing factories or pool companies.
Domestic workers and gardeners might face a similar risk, if home-owners plan to leave Cape Town during a Day Zero scenario.
If you are faced with a risk of retrenchment, the usual, formal procedures around retrenchment should apply. Staff should be consulted, given sound reasons, and given the option of representation, exploring alternative options and fulfilling the correct administrational obligations.
4. As an employer, how do I put together a business continuity and incident-response plan?
The purpose of a business continuity plan is to help you ensure that your business can continue during and after any critical incident that disrupts your normal operations.
Many businesses drew up such plans during the energy crisis, and these need to be reworked for water.
What are your risks, how are you preparing, and how will things continue during a Day Zero scenario and beyond?
An incident response plan would form part of the business continuity plan, focusing on what will happen while in the midst of Day Zero.
Templates for such plans are freely available on the web but are unlikely to be tailored for a Day Zero scenario. The Western Cape government’s 110% Green website has tailored water-related questions to guide you in the drafting of a business continuity plan.
Share these Wednesday Water Files with your staff, and work out how you can assist them in taking concrete steps to prevent, and prepare for, Day Zero.
5. I’ve heard the CBD and some other areas will remain unaffected by a Day Zero scenario. Is this true?
At this stage the City of Cape Town (CoCT) has looked at the water supply system in the whole of Cape Town and overlaid that with key economic nodes and their water consumption levels. The CBD is one of them. The aim is to prioritise which areas will still receive mains water. The CoCT has not yet finalised the internal review and approval process of these locations.
6. What about the water risks that our suppliers face?
No business works in isolation. There is always a supply chain and their water woes, whether within or outside their control, might in turn affect you and your workplace.
Examples are hotels and laundry services, food manufacturers and farmers. It is important to engage with people in the supply chain in order to understand how a water crisis affects their operations - and in turn your own.
7. Can the concept of neighbourliness apply in business?
Yes it can. Reaching out to your supply chain, direct business neighbours and staff can all be acts of neighbourliness.
Neighbouring businesses could initiate a discussion around the drought and seek joint solutions, like sharing the costs for alternative water sourcing or joint security planning around Day Zero.
Businesses can play valuable roles in informing staff about drought issues, or by offering support to staff on the home front.
Examples could be the payment of a plumber to staff households that struggle with leaks; the purchase and distribution of retrofitting devices for staff to take home; the offer of a workplace crèche in case of Day Zero; and the distribution of information, like the Wednesday Water Files, to all staff.
The more drought-resilient the staff body, the less work disruption there is likely to be.
8. So if we manage to avoid Day Zero, was all this effort and expense in the workplace for nothing?
All your efforts as an individual, employee or business owner have been essential in getting us to a point where we now have the prospect of avoiding Day Zero.
Please knuckle down and continue, as we will not get out of severe restrictions in the next year or two. It is worthwhile to make long-term adaptations in the workplace.
Office water use - and the resulting water bill - will be greatly reduced in the long term if room is made in our current workplace budgets to invest in retrofitting devices, such as low-flush toilets, tap and shower restrictors and waterless urinals for men and women.
The “New Normal” that this drought has given us has changed our relationship with water, and all the science indicates this is essential for the long term. It would be a real win if we could turn our crisis-saving steps today into our collective water stewardship for tomorrow.
Water is everybody’s business.
* Weiss is media manager for Worldwide Fund for Nature SA
WWF is grateful for the participation of Claire Pengelly (GreenCape) in the compilation of this Water File.