01 Nov 2015

Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) is anticipating an increase in water shortages in the Boteti Sub district during the course of the year due to decline in yield of boreholes.

Addressing Boteti Sub-district disaster management committee recently, Water Utilities (WUC) waterworks superintendent, Mr Mmothi Segale said that with the expected low rainfall, the WUC anticipates continuous supply challenges.

He stated that water supply has been diminishing in recent months due to the significant drop in daily output coupled with the amount of heat that had resulted in water resources stretched.

Mr Segale said the corporation supplies water to Letlhakane and 16 smaller villages, noting that the daily demand of Letlhakane is 2111 million litres of water while the WUC’s daily supply is 2348 million litres. He said in spite of the numbers, there was still a deficit in their water supply. 

“Since Letlhakane is growing by leaps and bounds there are a lot of construction activities going on hence a deficit in the current water situation,” he said. The waterworks superintendent noted that as a result, they proposed to equip two more boreholes from the current five and construct a six kilometres transmission line to augment supply to the village.

Mr Segale said the project had been included in the drought relief emergency projects and survey of the proposed lines had been carried out and the project would soon get underway.

He said that Mopipi boreholes are shallow sunk boreholes which depend predominantly on seasonal rainfall.
 “With the current scenario of low rainfall this year, some aquifers are already showing signs of depletion which renders this year a disastrous year,” he said.

He cautioned that most rural villages and settlements in the area are experiencing poor water quality (class II), adding that due to financial constraints they cannot not make desalination plants. 

Mr Segale said that they are banking on the ongoing P300 million Boteti Northern Cluster project. The corporation has also observed that there are water loses due to vandalism and pipe leakages. Ends