Water: Compliance First, Saving Second

Jump to section

• Overview & contents
• i. Important Notice
• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. The Competitive Problem
• 3. Water: Compliance First, Saving Second
• 4. The Subscription Model
• 5. SWOT and Competitive Position
• 6. The Site and the Offer
• 7. Site Selection
• 8. Unit Economics
• 9. The Rollout and Its Gates
• 10. Funding
• 11. People and Operations
• 12. Compliance and Permits
• 13. Financial Projections
• 14. Break-Even
• 15. Sensitivity and Scenarios
• 16. Risk Management
• 17. Implementation Timeline
• 18. Returns
• 19. Key Performance Indicators
• 20. Key Assumptions
• 21. Conclusion
• A. Appendix A: Consolidated Financial Summary
• B. Appendix B: Site Capital Schedule
• C. Appendix C: Funding and Debt Schedules
• D. Appendix D: Risk Register
• E. Appendix E: Glossary

3.1 What the rules actually say

• Cape Town. Commercial car washes may use municipal drinking water only if they comply with industry best-practice water conservation norms and recycle at least 50 per cent of the water used. The water by-law applies at all times, irrespective of the prevailing restriction level.
• Car wash by-laws are municipal, so the detail differs by municipality. Common to all of them are stormwater management, water use rules, and compliance with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Some municipalities require an operating card permit, non-transferable, producible on demand.
• The Department of Water and Sanitation requires drainage that does not pollute the stormwater system. An oil and silt separator and biodegradable products are the practical response, and both are in the capital budget. Departmental guidance has moved the reference consumption figure for car wash operators down toward 100 litres a vehicle from 150.
• A water use licence may be required depending on the source and volume of water used. This must be established with the municipality before a site is committed to.
• Zoning consent is required. Many residential areas do not permit a commercial car wash at all, and this is a binary constraint rather than a negotiable one.

3.2 How the plant actually works

The final rinse is the reason the recycling rate plateaus in the seventies rather than approaching a hundred per cent. Recycled water is entirely suitable for pre-wash, wheel arches and undercarriage but a final rinse with anything other than clean water risks spotting on dark paintwork, which is precisely the failure a paying customer notices. A plan claiming a ninety per cent recycling rate is either using recycled water where it should not or has not yet had a complaint.

The rate improves from 62 per cent in Year 1 to 74 per cent by Year 5 through tuning rather than capital: filter media selection, sump management, and matching the treated water to the right stage of the wash. That improvement is worth R129 000 a year in avoided municipal draw by Year 5 and costs nothing beyond attention.