Sustainable water usage

Water scarcity is a material issue for businesses that operate in South Africa and a strategic area of focus for Sanlam. This year we renewed our partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). This partnership promotes the wise management of our aquatic ecosystems and resources, including ground water management. and addresses water scarcity in South Africa. By the end of 2011, we had invested a total of R15 196 000 in the partnership with WWF since 2007.

As part of our long-term partnership with WWF, Sanlam will dedicate resources to assess and identify how we can use our sphere of influence in a systemic way to influence responsible water use and management in South Africa. We also plan to conduct research into solutions for insurance and investments affected by water. We will report back on our activities with WWF and the research teams in these areas during the year ahead, in our 2012 report.

In terms of our own water demands, this year we set the target of reducing our municipal water demands by 10%, by 2015. To monitor our progress it is imperative that water consumption is accurately measured and reported; a current focus is to improve our measuring systems to ensure reliability of data.. We do not currently have systems in place for measuring the amount of recycled water or untreated water used.

This year we conducted a desktop study to determine current consumption (including a comparison between Sanlam and Santam Head office buildings); based on assumptions we have made predictions on how to reduce water consumption based on a variety of technologies that could be implemented.

Our current measures aimed at reducing water consumption include raising levels of awareness among our staff around water scarcity, the installation of manual flush systems on all toilets, and sound water management in our garden irrigation practices. Dual flush systems are to be introduced in toilets in the near future, and rainwater harvesting opportunities are being considered.