Has your business got star quality when it comes to water?

Capetonians will be able to choose businesses according to how good they’ve been at saving water.

Businesses can approach the city council to be graded‚ and can be awarded between one and five stars for their responsible use of water.

One star will indicate compliance with water laws‚ while five will reflect exemplary implementation of measures to reduce water consumption and water pollution.

Stuart Diamond‚ the mayoral committee member for assets and facilities‚ said on Tuesday: “‘This certification has the potential to forge creativity and innovation in the business sector. It of course also encourages lowered consumption.”

Diamond said certification would rate where water comes from‚ how it is used‚ what measures are in place to reduce use of municipal water‚ how much effluent is discharged into the sewerage system and the quality of this effluent

Companies will be awarded points if they:

• Implement measures to reduce their drinking water consumption;
• Make changes to operating systems to reuse greywater; and
• Treat their own wastewater.

Deputy mayor Ian Neilson said Cape Town dam levels fell by 0.3 percentage points to 22.7% in the past week‚ but consumption rose from a record low of 511 million litres a day the previous week to 565 million litres.

“We will continue to monitor the water usage trend to see whether the increase in consumption is a once-off occurrence or whether there is another underlying reason that would need to be addressed‚” he said.

“The city is still required by the national government to reduce water usage to 450 million litres per day in order to stretch the available water supplies through the rest of the year. This equates to a reduction of 45% from normal usage. We are currently hovering at just below a 40% reduction.”