02 Sep 2015

Acute water shortage that has been tormenting Shakawe Senior Secondary School has come to an end after the installation of a mobile potable water treatment plant at the school.

Commissioning the project recently, the Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR), Mr Kitso Mokaila said the project was a response to acute water shortages at the school.

 He said the project, which comprised of supply, installation and commissioning, has also reduced demand on the existing Shakawe water treatment plant as supply to the village has increased significantly after the installation of the school’s water treatment plant.

 However, Mr Mokaila said the project was a remedial measure while awaiting the upgrading of the Shakawe water treatment plant, which is expected to be completed by April 2017.

 He said the village was currently supplied from three potable water treatment plants. He added that Mohembo West, Samochima, Shaikarawe, Xhaoga and Ukusi were also benefitting from the water treatment plants.

 He said the sand treatment plant was commissioned around 1996 with a design capacity of 800 m3 per day, and that the major operational challenge was frequent clogging, which affects the plant’s output.

 Furthermore, he explained that sand from Kajaja, which was recommended, clogged within a short period leading to the frequent scraping of the top layer and the need for sand replenishments after a couple of months.

 He said the low efficiency of the plant led to a serious water shortage in Shakawe and the neighbouring villages.

 Mr Mokaila said a decision was taken to relocate an additional two potable treatment plants from the decommissioned Thamalakane treatment works to augment supply in Shakawe. He added that the two plants had a combined output of 240m3 per day by 2014.

However, he said even with this improvement, including the plants combined peak output of 1 680m3 per day; supply was inadequate against a demand estimated at 1 970m3 per day by 2014.

He said contributing to the shortage was an aged network experiencing frequent bursts as the network was past its design horizon. 

 The minister said a water supply scheme dedicated to Shakawe senior  was completed in June, and has resulted in the school getting adequate and good quality water as well as easing the pressure from Shakawe treatment plants although shortage and rationing was still in place.

He said the slow sand treatment plant produces 575m3 per day while the blue packaged plant produced 403m3.

He said one of the two plants from Maun producing 240m3 daily was down and undergoing repairs, and that the remaining plant produces only 263m3 resulting in an average of 1 241m3 daily against an estimated demand of 2 121m3 daily for all the interconnected villages.

The minister noted that the total supply from all the plants in Shakawe was currently around 1 691m3 daily, resulting in a deficit of 430m3 per day.  For their part, residents welcomed the projects and said they hoped it would address water shortage in the village. Ends