Today the City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate recognised 18 organisations during its Water Star Rating Certification Ceremony for their good practice in water stewardship, which helps reduce pollution and encourages water wise usage in their operations.
What to know about the City’s voluntary Water Star Rating Certification system:
• It recognises businesses, government departments, residential estates, education, environmental and health institutions that comply with water-related by-laws, practice integrated water management, promotes pollution prevention and water wise usage.
• Participants that receive one star are certified as compliant with the relevant water legislation and the City’s Water By-laws. This in itself is worthy of recognition,
The Water Star Rating Certification is one of the initiatives that aims to help achieve the commitments set in the City’s Water Strategy, support the drive towards cleaner inland waterways which is a Mayoral priority, and becoming a more ‘water sensitive’ city.
The 18 participants who put their hands up for this latest round of assessment represent a diverse range of industry sectors.
Two companies achieved a Five Star rating this year:
• BG Servers
• Allan Gray
The voluntary star-rating assessment covers different aspects of water management including:
• How water is supplied
• How water is used on site
• Water conservation
• How water is discharged
Celebrating collective efforts
‘Responsible stewardship of our vulnerable water resource, waterways (streams, rivers, dams, vleis/ wetlands) and related ecosystems is more important than ever and this requires collective efforts from all of society - including the public, businesses, industries and government. This is also in keeping with my Mayoral priority to improving inland water quality.
‘For this reason, it is a great opportunity for us to honour these 18 organisations today for their significant efforts to be water wise, help reduce pollution and practice integrated water management in their operations. We call on other organisations to follow their lead. We commend all of those who understand their role and responsibilities in responsibly managing their water use and reducing pollution. These efforts by organisations are part of an ongoing process, which will improve over time, and result in better water management practices and investment in technologies,’ said Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis.
The Water Star Certification process benefits individual organisations which become more resource efficient and resilient, and it benefits the city and its waters.
‘The Water Star Rating initiative was an innovation from the City a few years ago, as we recognised that regulation is not only about enforcement but also involves encouraging or promoting self-regulation through such recognition and appreciation efforts. We understand that society changes when leaders in communities, businesses and civil society ‘do the right thing’, and businesses learn a lot from peer-to-peer sharing of best practices. Better and more integrated water management within businesses and within our city as a whole needs everyone to be on board,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation Councillor Zahid Badroodien.
Source: City Of Cape Town