In a bid to highlight the importance of saving water, the Sustainability Forum at Nedbank Private Wealth recently gave all staff a ‘future flush’ bag for World Water Day, which was on Sunday 22 March.

The bag, which is put into the cistern of the toilet, expands to reduce the amount of water stored in the cistern. This simple action saves one litre of water every time the toilet is flushed. In a three-person household that amounts to an average of 12 litres of water saved every day – enough drinking water for six people.

Although the long-term aim of this initiative is to save the world’s precious water, Nedbank Private Wealth also focused on the energy wasted when water is wasted.

Linda Swales, head of The Sustainability Forum at Nedbank Private Wealth, explained: “We encourage staff to consider how much energy is used to treat and deliver their water, both in the pumping and the purification processes. Water is required to generate energy in a number of ways, including when crude oil is pumped out of the ground, removing pollutants from power plant exhausts, generating the steam that turns turbines, flushing away residue after fossil fuels are burned, and keeping power plants cool.

“This means that wasted water wastes double the energy: first to treat it before delivering fresh, clean water to your home and then again to treat the waste water before it goes back into the environment.”

Nedbank Private Wealth’s Sustainability Forum, which was set up at the beginning of 2012, serves as a platform to raise awareness of sustainability among staff within the organisation. Each quarter the forum introduces a new campaign to promote awareness of different issues and how staff can manage their own impact by focusing on environmental issues, understanding how each of them can reduce their carbon footprint, and promoting sustainable living.