16 Apr 2015

Repairs are said to be on-going at the Siga Water pump station to address the recent water crisis which affected Ramotswa and surrounding areas.

Senior communications and public relations officer at Water Utilities Corporation, Mr Khumo Mugibelo, explained in an interview that the pump station experienced some problems last week, which resulted in low pressure or no water at all in Ramotswa and the surrounding villages.

Mr Mugibelo said the Siga water pump station broke down last week and their maintenance team has been working on the problem and they expect the situation to be back to normal by late Thursday if not Friday. 

He advised residents of the affected areas to save the little water that come out of their taps. He said the situation was exacerbated by the major bursting of the three pipes in the Lobatse area which forced them to alternate water supply between Ramotswa and Lobatse as the system was not able to feed both areas at once. He said the pipe bursts have been since attended to.

Responding to a question on whether the water shortage was not a result of the recently disruptions caused by the Fibre cable cut off, he said the situation was brought to normal as the cable was attended to.

Mr Mugibelo said Batswana should bear in mind the fact that the water rationing arrangement which was introduced in 2013 will continue to be in place since the Gaborone Dam has failed and there is no pumping taking place in the dam.

He said his organisation will continue to provide the limited resource to all Batswana though it will be not enough. 

Each and every Motswana wherever they are will get a share of water, he said urging them to abide by the water restrictions to save the little that is available.

He appealed to customers who have been affected by water shortage to bear with them as the water supply will not be restored immediately in all the affected areas due to the different land scape of the area. ENDS