With Level 5 restrictions on water usage in place and predictions that Cape Town’s taps could run dry in May 2018, homeowners in the Western Cape are seeking innovative ways to save water.
And it would seem that local businesses are meeting the challenge of providing them.
Claire Cobbledick, Head of Core Business at Gumtree SA, says the country’s biggest online classifieds site has seen an explosion in goods and services connected to the water crisis and in the number of people searching for them.
She says there has been a big increase in demand for plumbers in general with 744 now listed in the Cape, as well as obvious spikes in five other water-saving areas.
- Boreholes. The number of searches for Cape Town borehole service providers on Gumtree has doubled in a year. There are many new add-on services being offered like borehole water filters.
- Greywater systems. More than 50 specialist suppliers of water recycling systems are now listed in the Cape to install systems which re-channel water from the bathroom, sink and washing machine.
- Pool covers. A previously small category has exploded with 1330 current listings in the Cape for pool covers of different types. A new sub-set in the pool service category is the installation of direct draining pipes to allow for pumps to work when the water is below weir level.
- Water tanks. Water storage is now a critical issue and there are over 1440 sale listings for tanks in the Cape alone.
- Water-wise gardening. Online listings and searches for paving, wooden decking, artificial grass and water-wise plants and trees have all boomed.
Cobbledick believes these commercial developments in response to the water crisis are “a classic demonstration of the responsiveness and flexibility in the economy which has been enabled by online platforms – businesses can start and then scale up quickly with a much smaller and more accurate marketing spend than in the past, and in precise response to measurable demand”.