By 
Over the past decades there has been increasing pressure on listed and multinational companies to understand their environmental and social effect properly, to commit to sustainable operational and business practices, and to develop innovative models and initiatives in this regard.
Listed companies are aligned with global reporting requirements and frameworks such as the UN sustainable development goals, Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, Carbon Disposal Project (CDP) disclosures and global International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) standards. These frameworks require rigorous monitoring and analysis.
By using data to understand our effect and the effect of resource scarcity and climate change, we can better understand our vulnerabilities and risks and implement pragmatic, results-driven models within appropriate time frames, all within rigorous governance and reporting frameworks. This is a powerful foundation for positive social effect.
As a result, the private sector, and mining companies in particular, have been able to make an extraordinary contribution to socioeconomic development in rural areas, including development related to ensuring efficient water re-use and adequate water supply.
Our operations at Implats, for example, addressed supply constraints in vulnerable host communities through big infrastructure projects, and we continue to focus on alleviating water shortages. We work with municipalities and schools to improve water conservation and climate change awareness. We assist with strategic regional planning and local service provision, and work with local stakeholders to address immediate needs and ensure bulk infrastructure is maintained and long-term planning is in place.
At the same time, we work tirelessly to improve our internal water use — our goal is to achieve 70% water recycling and re-use by 2030, and have improved our performance to 53% from 41% over the past five years, earning an “A” rating from the CDP Water Disclosure Project.
We believe the private sector can and must lead the way in demonstrating the art of the possible in terms of sustainable water use. But the scale of the challenge is too great for it to be solved by business alone. We believe the answer to sustainable access to water lies in strategic PPPs.
The private sector and parastatals can offer resources — principally expertise and funding — that governments are otherwise unable to obtain, and governments can help apply these resources at scale. Such strategic partnerships address infrastructure problems that have financial, health, social or environmental consequences — and do so to the benefit of all stakeholders.
Alongside other commercial water users Implats is part of two PPPs — the Olifants Management Model and the Rustenburg Water Services Trust — which illustrate the exciting potential of these models to support the development of effective, long-term water infrastructure.
Rustenburg Municipality, in a water-stressed part of the country, faced the dual challenge of increased water demand from domestic and industrial sources and deteriorating wastewater treatment capacity. Public finances could not meet investment needs, which led to an engagement with local mining companies, including Implats. The municipality and mining companies established the Rustenburg Water Services Trust to finance and operate new water infrastructure.
The Trust takes an innovative approach to blended finance. It secures ring-fenced revenues from municipal bulk water sales and an offtake agreement with local mines. This revenue security enabled commercial finance to be accessed at favourable terms. The public sector played a big role in structuring a transaction that addressed critical water resource needs for the municipal area.
This strategic partnership has realised several benefits: secured supplies for mining, increased freshwater availability, and improvements in downstream water quality through better wastewater treatment. The partnership inspired a World Bank case study, which concluded: “The Rustenburg case proves that relatively small and financially weak municipalities can raise significant funding through well-structured projects with strong revenue streams from private sources,” and that “there is high potential for replication in areas where industry has a stake in improving outcomes”.
Efforts to adequately address the water needs of the middle Olifants river catchment area in the Limpopo Province have been inadequate since they were initially conceptualised in the late 1990s. This has resulted in chronic water scarcity in the region and an associated increase in social unrest. Water infrastructure has been vandalised and mining operations disrupted.
To address these pressing social and commercial challenges government and a consortium of commercial water users, including our Marula mine, agreed to collaborate by entering a joint-venture arrangement to construct and manage bulk-water infrastructure. This arrangement, termed the Olifants Management Model, was launched in 2022 and will accelerate the delivery of raw and potable water services in the region, creating employment opportunities and ensuring security of water supply for the Marula operation and its host communities.
The water security crisis requires effective action today. Only through collaborative efforts and sustained commitment can we ensure access to this basic human right and secure a better future.
The challenges underlying water scarcity in Southern Africa — constrained public purses, struggling infrastructure, climate-related risk and ever-increasing need — are familiar. PPPs represent a powerful tool to tackle these challenges, and where their success has been demonstrated they should be championed, embraced and scaled.
• Dr Mthombeni is sustainable development executive at Implats.
Comments