02 Apr 2017

Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) plans to clean wastewater for domestic use purposes.

Speaking during commemoration of World water month in Modipane on Thursday, WUC chief executive officer Mr Mmetla Masire said his company was considering reusing waste water especially that

Botswana was a desert country which at times runs short of rainfall.

He said it was therefore opportune for WUC to rethink its strategies of providing water to Batswana and he was of the belief that they will drink the water more so that other countries around the world have started doing so.

Mr Masire said the theme: Water and Wastewater encouraged people to learn more about wastewater and its by-products.

“It is after knowing more about it that we can realise its importance and change how we relate,” he said.
He further said the corporation operates two major wastewater plants being Mambo and Glenn Valley in Francistown and Gaborone respectively.

He added that the two facilities received used water from these two cities where it underwent treatment and sold for secondary use except consumption.

Mr Masire said managing wastewater was a challenge worldwide as it resulted in wastewater seepage being discharged into the environment without undergoing any form of treatment hence posing a hazard to human beings by spreading diseases.

He said in the case of Botswana, it was challenging to provide treatment plants in each area because of the sparsely populated settlements.

He explained that water from homes and industries constituted 16 per cent of available water resources and only 20 per cent of the available wastewater was being re-used in agricultural sector.

He said government had developed a national water and wastewater policy which represented the first step in a continual process to ensure that water was properly positioned to meet the needs of the nation, thereby promoting economic growth and improved livelihoods.

Mr Masire said “it is through the same framework that a national water conservation strategy was developed to improve on water use efficiency and realize prudent water resource management.”

In his welcome remarks Kgosi Fanuel Mokalake of Modipane requested WUC to consider opening their office in his village as the village had grown and the corporation’s services should be brought closer to the people.

In his closing remarks, the assistant district commissioner for Kgatleng District Mr Boamogetswe Monyena emphasised the need to save water for future use.

He said it was important for Batswana to understand the importance of water conservation more so that the country had in the past few months experienced shortage of water.

Mr Monyena said if shortage continued in the future, there would be need to consider using wastewater for drinking. ENDS