While the Eastern Cape Province battles a drought the Port of Ngqura is playing its part to be water wise.

The port has introduced various innovations aimed at not only saving valuable potable water, but also money.

“Instead of flushing drinking water down the toilets, we are using grey water now to service the five toilets at Brenton House,” explains Mandilakhe Mdodana, Environmental Manager.

“Traditionally the water used for flushing these toilets came from the municipal feed. We are now harvesting water from the storm water run-off into 15 large 10 000-litre tanks, which serve as reservoirs at the bottom of Klub Road Bridge. We are diverting the tank water into flushing water. We consider rolling out this grey water system in the entire port,” Mdodana.

According to a survey altogether 96 people are using Brenton House on a weekly basis. They represent Marine, the Fire- and Engineering departments as well as various service providers. This grey water system enabled us to save almost 700 000 litres of water in a year’s time at a cost of more than R11 000.

Other initiatives include the water harvesting system at the Admin Building that is currently being revamped. We also re-installed all the water meters throughout the port to quantify the actual water consumption in the different areas of the port. This will enable us to manage water consumption better.