Acqua Rinova Group · Water, Reimagined.
Specialist water consulting, analytics and implementation services delivering practical solutions for mining, agriculture and industry across Africa.
People Places Resources Possibilities
Acqua Rinova Group is a specialist water consulting firm built around a single belief: when water is managed and renewed responsibly, it becomes a pathway to transform landscapes, economies and communities.
We work at the intersection of hydrogeology, hydrology, risk analytics and digital systems, delivering decisions that are defensible, scalable and aligned with long-term water security.
Our clients are mining houses, large-scale commercial farmers, project developers and investors operating in technically complex environments across Africa, where water has a direct bearing on safety, production continuity and regulatory standing.
We deliver through four integrated specialist divisions, allowing clients to engage one for a focused mandate or all four for a fully integrated programme.
Acqua
The Italian word for water, anchors us in our technical foundation of hydrology, hydrogeology and water management.
Rinova
Derived from rinnovare, meaning to renew and restore.
Together they describe what we do:
Turning water from a liability into a force for regeneration.
We create long-term value at the intersection of water stewardship, mine closure, agricultural development and just transition planning.
Our purpose
To create long-term, practical, implementable and beneficial water management solutions.
Our core ideology
Authenticity in everything we do.
We say what we mean, we deliver what we promise and we build relationships on honest technical conversation rather than polished sales language.
We take responsibility for outcomes from scoping to handover and stay accountable to the decisions our work informs.
We bring a flexible toolkit and a willingness to shape the approach around what the operation actually needs.
Our assumptions, methods and uncertainties are visible. Clients see what we see, allowing them to decide with confidence.
The Acqua Rinova Group
An integrated solutions ecosystem enabling organisations to progress from technical capability to transformational, regenerative outcomes.
Specialist divisions working together to enable progression through the entire maturity journey.
First-principles technical rigour, paired with commercial and governance thinking.
We apply first-principles technical rigour to every engagement. Our work combines field-based hydrogeological investigation with industry-standard numerical modelling, probabilistic analysis and data-driven reporting.
We are instrument-agnostic and scale-flexible, equally at home running a rapid feasibility-level desktop review or delivering a full site characterisation campaign to international finance and investor criteria.
Behind the technical work sits a different mindset. We are not selling hours. We are helping leadership teams make defensible decisions about water in environments where the cost of getting it wrong is operational, financial and reputational.
That is why our methods are transparent, our uncertainties are quantified and our outputs are designed to stand up to independent review.
Division services over the project lifecycle
| Project stage | Blue Core Solutions | Rinova Nexus Integration & intelligence | Blue Harvest Projects | Blue Transform Strategy, change & delivery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exploration | Conceptual hydrogeological models | Baseline data dashboards | Aquifer potential studies | Opportunity assessment & new-venture planning |
| Pre-feasibility | Numerical groundwater modelling | Risk scenario modelling | Water supply feasibility | Business-case development |
| Feasibility | Integrated water balances | Corporate water accounting design | Infrastructure planning | Operating-model design & implementation roadmaps |
| Construction | Dewatering strategy optimisation | Monitoring dashboards | Abstraction licensing strategy | Programme governance & integrated delivery planning |
| Operations | Strategic dewatering & inflow forecasting | ESG reporting & blockchain traceability | Adaptive water allocation planning | Process optimisation & change management |
| Expansion | Climate stress-testing & scenario modelling | Predictive demand analytics | Shared water governance modelling | Growth strategies & workforce planning |
| Closure planning | Long-term rebound modelling | Closure water liability analytics | Post-closure water strategy | Stakeholder alignment & transition planning |
| Post-closure | Residual risk review | Transparency & compliance dashboards | Regional aquifer sustainability | Operational handover & governance |
Mines and farms in Southern Africa draw from the same catchments. They answer to the same regulators. They face the same El Niño volatility.
Most of their water decisions still rest on last year's balances, historic rainfall averages and dam designs made for a wetter world. Monitoring sits in spreadsheets, logbooks and messaging groups that nobody reads together.
When water runs short, the paperwork decides who keeps pumping. Operators who know their licence position, their real abstraction and their second sources keep options open. Everyone else waits for the curtailment letter.
In June 2026 the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an El Niño advisory and gave a 63% chance of a very strong event for November 2026 to January 2027. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) rates agricultural risk in Southern Africa as high for October 2026 to March 2027, with below-average rainfall and extreme heat expected.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports that record heat and El Niño amplified drought in Southern Africa in 2024. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) describes the most recent El Niño cycle as the region's worst drought in more than a century, with 61 million people needing assistance.
Agriculture accounts for around 72% of global freshwater withdrawals. Mines pump water they must manage and discharge. Where quality, licensing, governance and economics align, mine water becomes a second source for farming.
Sources: NOAA Climate Prediction Center, El Niño advisory, 11 June 2026. FEWS NET, El Niño 2026 to 2027 topic page. WMO, State of Global Water Resources 2024. FAO, June 2026. UN-Water, FAO 2025 AQUASTAT data. Probabilities reflect guidance at the time of publication and are reviewed as forecasts change.
Mining houses
For mines with dewatering volumes and surplus infrastructure land. We test whether that water and land can carry a viable agricultural operation, reducing closure and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risk rather than adding to it.
Commercial agriculture
For farms and irrigation schemes drawing on shared catchments. We rebuild the water budget around rainfall probabilities, crop stage, storage losses and allocation rules, then test the revenue under each scenario.
Lenders, insurers and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)
For funders of mining and agricultural assets. We provide water evidence that can be audited: water use, crop response, energy per cubic metre and community impact, in a form that supports ESG reporting.
Community and Social and Labour Plan (SLP) teams
For teams responsible for community commitments. We help design mine-integrated agribusiness that uses water already on site to create work and food locally.
Quantified, defensible management of water-related operational, regulatory and climate risks.
Confidence in long-term water availability, system resilience and supply continuity.
Probabilistic, evidence-based insight in place of static deterministic assumptions.
Operational efficiencies and strategic opportunities unlocked through smarter water management.
Digital, scalable solutions aligned with evolving ESG and investor expectations.
Senior technical delivery on every mandate. No hand-offs to junior teams after the proposal.
Science, implementation and digital governance under one roof, deployed together when needed.
Built for the regulatory, operational and climate realities of African mining and agriculture.
Analysis on water, mining and agriculture in shared catchments.
Whether the conversation starts with a technical mine water problem, a closure plan that needs commercial reframing, or an ESG reporting system that needs to deliver real assurance, we welcome the conversation. Reach out directly to either of the founders any time.
Principal Strategy Consultant · Co-founder
More than 25 years in management consulting, including PwC, Futureworld and GoTyme Bank. Leads Blue Transform.
ronell@arinova.co.zaOr follow our work on LinkedIn.
Acqua Rinova