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Perceptions and realities - water, effluent and environmental management systems in the SA wine industry
Craig Sheridan*, Institute for Wine Biotechnology (IWBT), Dept. of Viticulture and Oenology and Dept of Process Engineering, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602
Introduction
This article is based on information collected by means of a questionnaire submitted to winemakers and other cellar personnel during the course of my investigations for an MSc degree in 2001 and 2002. The questionnaire was widely distributed throughout the SA wine industry (app 400 cellars) and was designed to acquire statistically significant sets of data regarding various technical aspects of cellar management and equipment. A subset of questions was specifically related to the management of water usage and disposal as well as the attitude of winery managers towards the implementation of environmental management systems (EMS).
The data obtained from the 60 questionnaires that were fully completed provide some interesting insights into the realities and perceptions of water and environmental management in the SA wine industry. In particular, the answers show a clear discrepancy between estimates of water consumption in cellars that do not measure water use and similar sized cellars that measure water consumption accurately. The following aspects relating to water management were covered by the questionnaire:
Currently, there is a lack of information on certain aspects of winemaking in South Africa. Equipment types, processing configurations, processing options and other critical parameters are largely absent from the body of scientific knowledge. A primary reason for this is that the wine industry mainly follows traditional practices and procedures that have rarely been changed or measured before.
When assessing the questionnaire responses, some inaccurate replies were found especially in cases where questions may have been ambiguous, or not sufficiently defined. In addition to this, care had to be taken when assessing data obtained in this way. There was no way to define a 'believability index' for the data returned, so scepticism is required when interpreting the results obtained from this data.
At the time of submission of the questionnaire, there were in excess of 390 wine producers in South Africa. Of the original contact group, thirty-seven cellars returned completed questionnaires. This represented a 9% return, which is and acceptable rate of return. In this case, however, it was decided that the sample group was not sufficiently large for proper statistical analysis. Discussion with the statistics department at the University of Stellenbosch indicated that sixty replies would be a sufficiently large return of these questionnaires and several follow-ups were undertaken to reach this number of replies.
The statistical analysis of these responses is the subject of the following article and also serves as a feedback to the participating cellars that took the time to complete the questionnaire and the wine industry in general. Winemakers may use this information to make decisions about their cellars, and more specifically, their water usage and effluent treatment.
Water statistics
The following two graphs depict the usage of water in the wine industry, as well as the amount of measurement of water.
Figure 1.1 shows that 50% of the cellars that returned the questionnaire used boreholes as a primary source of water. Almost a quarter of respondents used municipal mains and these two sources formed the bulk of the source of water used in the wine industry.
Figure 1.2 shows that only 20% of the respondents measured the consumption of water in the cellar. This appears to contradict the fact that 23% of the cellars obtain water from municipalities, but can be explained by the fact that in certain cellars a water bill is supplied for the whole farm. It is often not possible to distinguish between water used by the cellar and water used for other purposes due to a lack of specific water meters. Of great concern is the fact that 65% of respondents did not know how much water they used. A further 15% thought they knew approximately how much they used. However, a comparison of these estimates with the data supplied by the cellars that accurately measure water consumption suggest that these wineries underestimate the real amount of water consumed by a significant margin. It can therefore be suggested that close to 80% of respondents had little knowledge of how much water was consumed. This data could imply that many cellars are utilising water from natural resources without logging the usage.
Effluent statistics
Effluent is defined as waste water that is discharged from a cellar during normal and abnormal operation. Abnormal operation is defined as any problem that occurs during processing. This might include particularly busy harvest periods or the accidental release of wine or juice etc into the drains. For the purposes of this study, the effluent has been quantified according to the following classifications:
Effluent disposal
Figure 2.1 shows the methods of disposal of winery effluent. It can be seen that 60% of respondents irrigate their effluent onto a pasture or paddock of some sort, with a further 10% disposing to municipal sewerage and 10% disposing their water by evaporation. Until now, the ratio of different effluent disposal strategies has not been investigated.
Quantity of effluent
In figure 2.2, we see how few wineries know how much effluent they dispose. Only 5% of respondents have effluent quantity measurement. A further 5% answered with guesses but 90% of responding cellars were prepared to say that they had no effluent measurement. This data is alarming when considered in conjunction with the previous graph (figure 2.1). It implies that more than 50% of cellars are irrigating their effluent indiscriminately onto pastures or paddocks.
Perceptions pertaining to environmental management
The following graphs show the perceptions of the person filling in the questionnaire of the importance of an environmental management system (EMS). This may not be the truth for each winery per se, but allows for some interesting conclusions.
In figure 3.1, the perceived importance of an EMS by cellar management is shown. It is quite clear that management views some form of an EMS to be critical. As such, one may assume that environmental issues are critical to cellar management.
In figure 3.2, the perceived importance of an EMS by the skilled employees at the cellar is shown. It can be seen that most skilled employees appear to view an EMS as being highly important, rather than critical.
Figures 3.1 and 3.2 contrast starkly to figure 3.3, which shows how the importance of an EMS is perceived to be for unskilled labour. In the first two categories, which typically include employees with a higher level of education, the importance of an EMS is high or critical. When looking at unskilled labour, 35% of this category is perceived to see this as being unimportant.
Figure 3.4 shows what the respondents feel to be the biggest hurdle that needs to be overcome in order to implement an EMS. Fifty-two percent of respondents feel that cost is the most important issue. It should be stressed that the savings from reduced chemical usage (and water etc.), that would result from the implementation of an EMS can in many cases pay for the implementation and maintenance of the EMS.*
Concluding remarks
It would appear that lack of information and a lack of education and training are the two key factors that are responsible for causing difficulty in implementing effective EM systems in the wine industry. This study attempted to provide some information to quantify the extent of the problem. It also highlights where further information needs to be gathered (for example - effective water and effluent quantity measurement and characterisation).
Education and training, however, as discussed above, cannot be addressed by this study. This requires active participation by the cellars. It is likely that once these two issues are fully addressed, as they have been in other industries, the effective implementation of EM systems will become a reality.
For any given system to work, participants need to understand the system. Thus, if an Environmental Management System is to be introduced at a cellar, it is of critical importance that the all employees understand the purpose of the system.
Acknowledgements
The Institute for Wine Biotechnology and the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch for the creation of this study.
My co-authors.
The NRF and Winetech for sponsorship of this study.
Winetech for the supply of effluent sampling data
The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry for supplying data on the "Effluent and Waste Disposal Study in the Western Cape Town of Robertson".
All those cellars that completed the questionnaire, and in particular, those three cellars that were kind enough to let me onto their premises over the 2002 harvest.
Post Script: A complete list of study references is available from the author on request.
* According to Verbal Communication with Dr N. Barnardt, 2002.
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