Hyundai Bryanston hopes to cut its municipal water use by 80%, following the installation of a water capture and recycling system, says dealer principal Kosta Avgoustinos.

The installation of the R200 000 system, with a monthly R3 500 service fee, was approved by the Hyundai Automotive South Africa board as a pilot project to test the feasibility of introducing it at other Hyundai dealers, he adds.

Hyundai is distributed in South Africa by the JSE-listed Imperial Group.

The Bryanston dealership system operates as a two-tier system. It captures rainwater, and then also recycles the wash-bay water. The water is treated to ensure it does not smell or carry debris which could damage the cars washed with the water.

“We use the water to wash the cars we service, which is around 20 cars a day. Only when it is finished, do we use municipal water,” says Avgoustinos.

The system has been up and running since November.

“It is still early days. We are not currently seeing a lot of savings in money terms, but we are breaking even. The idea is that the system will pay for itself in the long term, espe- cially as the price of water goes up. And we are also doing our bit for the environment,” notes Avgoustinos.

The Bryanston dealer uses roughly 200 000 ℓ of water a month, with the system able to store 40 000 ℓ.

Avgoustinos says the next step is to link the system to the dealership’s irrigation network, as well as to use it as flushing water in the bathrooms.

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