#WorldWaterDay: Corporates help create solutions to water crisis
SANDOWN – One sachet of Purifier of Water can purify 10 litres of dirty water, making it safe to drink.
In celebration of World Water Day on 22 March and in order to raise awareness about the water crisis in Cape Town, a group of panellists gathered to discuss what they could do to aid the situation.
Procter and Gamble SA (Pty) Ltd created the Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme (CSDW) in 2004 to distribute its water purifying sachets which can purify 10 litres of dirty water. This is enough drinking water for a family of five for one day. So far, the CSDW initiative has helped to purify 13 billion litres of water, six billion of which have been provided to 40 countries in Africa.
Dr Marius Claassen, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research‘s principal researcher for water resource management said that in terms of water quantity, there is not enough water which is being captured. He also added that water quality needs to be considered as 80 per of water resources in South Africa don’t comply with the requirements in terms of nutrients.
Jeanne du Plessis, communications manager at Procter and Gamble echoed Claasen’s sentiments. “The water crisis narrative in our country over the past year has been very much about the quantity, rather than the quality, of this precious resource,” added du Plessis.
“What we tend to forget, however, is that many communities only have access to dirty, contaminated water that can cause illness, poor health and even death. In addition, these individuals often have to walk a few kilometres to get this water.”
Alexander Haw, the group sustainability executive at Massmart highlighted that corporate companies have the opportunity to address their water consumption. Some of the water-saving initiatives Massmart has implemented include saving water from fridges, which need defrosting and collecting rainwater.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot but we have sites that are collecting 3 000 litres of water a day so on average we manage to reduce our consumption by about 20 million litres.”
From the sales of its products, Procter and Gamble will be donating the Purifier of Water sachets to communities in need. To find out more about the project visit www.csdw.org
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