We commend all of our members who have adapted, innovated and collaborated to ensure that we can continue welcoming visitors to Cape Town while having a minimal impact on the City’s water resources. Here are the best water saving tips we have received from our members.
To add your water saving tips to the list, email us at membership@capetown.travel or share your tips on our Cape Town Tourism Members Facebook group.
Collecting excess water from our ice machine into a tank.
Connecting the tank to the toilet cisterns.
Getting water from air machine.
Guido Dierschke, Café Extrablatt
Borehole at hotel in place since July 2017. Water from borehole is currently being tested. We hope to purify the water and pump into our boilers for supply to bathrooms. 25L tanks filled with borehole water is used by Housekeeping to clean bedrooms.
Water Pebbles placed on drain of shower. The device has a timer that flashes from green to amber then red. This raises awareness to GUESTS to minimise time in showers.
Backwash tank used to reduce wastage of swimming pool water.
Marchel Anthony, Protea Hotel by Marriott, Mowbray
Introduction of buckets and stickers in bathrooms to discourage excessive usage.
Introducing waterless hand sanitizer as an alternative to soap
Removing bath plugs with an explanation. Installing water saving shower heads, inline flow restrictors for toilets and tap aerators for basins and sinks
Chantal Steward, The Lodge at Atlantic Beach
All air conditioning has been installed not to use water as a cooling source. Cool air is produced from a heat exchange system.
Our resident pool is filled with rain harvested water. Two 5 000L tanks have been installed as back-up linked to the roof and gutter system.
Our garden is watered from a separate water harvesting system from the roof.
Louise Rohner, Double Tree by Hilton – Cape Town Upper Eastside
Bidvest Car Rental have stopped washing the exterior of their vehicles. A dry washing system is used for very dirty vehicles.
All toilet facilities will be locked and chemical porta-potties will be used. These are equipped with hand sanitizers.
All kitchen facilities with appropriate nozzles are fitted with mist sprayers which use far less water than normal flow.
Kirsten Van Der Hoven, Bidvest Car Rental
Buckets have been in place in each shower cubicle since November 2017 as well as in our kitchen.
Laundry: Special outside airing is done each day! Outside hospitality laundry service in place. All bed-linen and personal towels will now only be changed once a week, or under special circumstances.
Re-cycling of our daily water usage in place throughout our guest lodge. Already collecting allocated water from spring point in Bradwell Road, Vredehoek.
Denise Bremridge, Southern Comfort Guest Lodge
All bathplugs have been removed and a notice has been placed in all the rooms for guests to please take two minute showers.
All toilet cisterns have been adjusted to use only 40 per cent of water when flushing and hand sanitizers in all public bathrooms.
All napkins have been replaced with bio-degradable serviettes, white linen replaced with leather placemats.
Cynthia Barnard, Lérmitage Franschhoek
We no longer allow guest to take baths. A two min shower is recommended. All bath plugs have been removed, and we are strict about not giving plugs to guests.
We no longer offer a laundry service. Guests are requested to speak to one of the managers should assistance be required.
Water regulators have been installed on all taps and showerheads limiting water flow to maximum of 5l.
Karen Poole, Welgelegen Guest House
We fill a tank with water from our sump pump and fill our pool with this water as well as using it in public spaces.
All showers in the hotel have aerators on that run at 6l per minute.
All taps in the hotel have aerators on them that run at 2l per minute. We have buckets placed in each room and the water is used to clean floors and to water plants.
Leon Knoetze, The Hyde Cape Town
Notices in welcome letter, bathrooms and toilets informing guests of the limitation on water consumptions per person daily.
Fitted devices in showers, toilets and basins – allowing two min showers, the non-flushing of toilets after use.
Cutting down on laundry by changing bedding every five days for long stays, and doing hand washing wherever possible.
Maxwell Magodla, The Bantry Bay Suite Hotel
Daily meter readings and reports to all staff and guests.
Requests that guests team up with us and bucket bathe rather than shower.
Making equipment available for guests to bucket bathe ( bucket, facecloth, jug) and also to collect grey water for use in the toilets.
Howard Richman, Green Elephant
Bath plugs removed from baths and guests asked to take short showers with buckets for collecting grey water (used to flush toilets).
Grey water from washing machines used for garden/toilet/rinse cycle used for next wash cycle.
Water harvesting tanks with back-up water if needed.
Liesel Coetzer, Mariner Guest House
Pumping well-point water to rooftop tanks to feed hotel centralized toilet flushing system.
Connecting ground water to feed laundry and recycling laundry water to water gardens by converting drains to an outside tank.
Well-point water filtered and utilized for all recreational water usage (swimming pools and outside jacuzzis).
Chris Godenir, The Peninsula All-Suite Hotel
Capture air-conditioner condensation water for cleaning in the hotel.
Lowered the level of water filling up in the toilet cistern now being 4.5l per flush.
Using paper napkins and not watering the garden at all.
Liezel Vernon, Road Lodge N1 City
Urinal mats in urinals and disabling flush units.
No water jugs on bars or glasses of water to clients.
Disable full flush buttons on toilets so only minimal amounts of water can be flushed.
Tim Wagner, Mavericks
Showerheads using 2.9l per minute and using 70 per cent less water.
Using The EcoFlush liquid with 200ml water and solids with 400ml of water.
A special drain cast in the front of the bowl collects urine as it naturally expresses forward, keeping it separate. Saving up to 80 per cent water per flush.
Maria Silfverschiold, Orbital Systems
Hand sanitizer in bathrooms.
Using grey water to flush toilets.
Two minute showers.
Zile de Kock, Marine Dynamics
Waterless hand wash.
Disabling baths in rooms with both a bath and shower.
Removing face cloths and hand towels from all rooms (reducing laundry services).
Johan van Schalkwyk, Aquila Safari
Only linen laundering upon arrival and departure.
Extensive pre-arrival communications and in-property communications creating awareness.
Monitoring of usage through reading of water meter.
Nick Taylor, Nox Group
Training staff and monitoring their behaviour.
Installation of water saving aerators and shower heads.
Two phase toilet flushes which was a challenge as we still have old cisterns with imperial size holes.
Dick Lutterbeck, Abbey Manor Luxury Guesthouse
We collect water at the spring every five days. We boil it and use it for cooking and hygiene.
We have 2l & 3l bottles with a straw at the bottom in all the bathrooms.
We installed 2 x 1 000l tanks and 1 x 2 500l tank to harvest rainwater from the roof. We use the rainwater for the washing machine and the machine then pumps the water into two bins which is then pumped into the toilets.
Denise Theys, House of Ephraim
Water saving tap aerators are fitted.
Toilet uses grey water.
Laundry gets done once a week which feeds the garden.
Adelle Marree, Granadilla Media
Implementation of shower timer cut off (shower must not be longer than two minutes).
Reduce food that require boiling and opt to steam.
Use of paper towels in the restrooms and tables.
Zandiswa Copiso, Albatros Travel