Water usage and care: water-conscious building standards

Refer to pages 5, 8 and 10 of the UJ Campuses Maintenance Policy and Procedure Manual:

Page 5 (point 4.3.):

“In terms of building standards used to determine the occupancy readiness of any building the SA National Building standards and the City of Johannesburg Building standards for occupancy will apply and be used to determine maintenance effectiveness.”

Page 8 (point 4.9.):

“It is the responsibility of the Maintenance Division to ensure any building used by staff or students or the public as visitors to the institution meets the relevant building standards (see paragraph 4.3) before it may be re-occupied.” 

Page 10 (point 4.15.):

“In any case where there is a conflict between two or more standards the more restrictive of the standards will be applied – but in all cases the minimum requirement is that the SA National Building standards are applied. “

Water Management

“As far as possible, borehole water is now being used on all campuses, and the four new boreholes for supply subvention from 2022 are now in operation.

A number of initiatives implemented in 2022 contributed to some water savings. The key focus areas in the reduction of water consumption for 2022 were as follows:

> Achieving 95% installation of water restricting showerheads in residences and installing 100% of new residences with low flow showerheads.
> Reducing water usage due to reduced supply by the CoJ as a direct result of the Eskom load shedding processes.

The key focus areas in the reduction of water consumption for 2023 are as follows:

> As far as possible replacing existing taps with push-taps at kitchen hand basins and bathrooms, and further trialing push-taps in shower cubicles to reduce water loss due to inadvertent open tap losses after water supply cuts.
> Additional drilling for water on other UJ properties.
> Conducting further awareness campaigns on campuses and in residences to achieve water savings.
> Continuing with the ongoing installation of water restricting showerheads and extending the retro-fitting of push-taps in residences and ablution facilities as funds and technological factors permit.
> Considering the use of waterless urinals to reduce water consumption and investigating a waste concentration system on the APK Campus to reduce sewage costs and allow for substantial water recovery for irrigation purposes.
> Installing the first functioning grey water trial on the APB Campus for two large residences – this is expected to save more than 4 million liters of water per annum.”

Water Management

“As far as possible, borehole water is now used on all campuses, and the four new boreholes for supply subvention from 2019 are now in operation.

A number of initiatives implemented in 2021 contributed to some water savings. The key focus areas in the reduction of water consumption for 2021 were as follows:

> Harvesting rainwater for the purpose of irrigation.
> Achieving 95% installation of water restricting showerheads in residences and installing 100% of new residences with low flow showerheads.

The key focus areas in the reduction of water consumption for 2022 are as follows:

> Ensuring that all new student residences make use of push-taps at kitchen hand basins and bathrooms, and trialing push-taps in shower cubicles to reduce water loss due to inadvertent open tap losses after water supply cuts.
> Completing the drilling programmes for an additional new borehole on each of the campuses, for the purpose of using the water for irrigation.
> Benchmarking water usage against other universities and using this as an incentive to increase savings at UJ.
> Conducting further awareness campaigns on campuses and in residences to achieve water savings.
> Continuing with the ongoing installation of water restricting showerheads and extending the retro-fitting of push-taps in residences and ablution facilities as funds and technological factors permit.
> Considering the use of waterless urinals to reduce water consumption and investigating a waste concentration system on the APK Campus to reduce sewage costs and allow for substantial water recovery for irrigation purposes.
> Another grey water trial is expected to be developed in 2022, which, if more successful than in the past, will be extended to other residences and high-traffic ablution facilities.”