09 Apr 2019

Parliament has been informed that water supply for Letlhakane has been inadequate for the past three years owing to limited water sources against increased water demand in the village.

According to the Assistant Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services Mr Itumeleng Moipisi, who was answering a question in Parliament on April 8, a project for equipping two boreholes to augment the water supply deficit was completed in April last year.

However, he said in spite of this effort, water supply challenges were experienced in the past six months owing to design limitations of the existing water supply infrastructure.

Mr Moipisi added that the current water supply stood at 1 880 cubic litres a day against a water demand of 2 100 cubic litres a day, noting in addition that currently a number of wards in the village such as Phase 1 and 2, Tawana extensions, Letsibogo and Metsiaela, were not reticulated. 

In addition, he explained that the combined well field capacity had a potential to produce 2 700 cubic litres per day, and that pressure availability varied across the village with some areas receiving little water while others receive no water at all.

This, he said, was attributed to infrastructure limitations and village expansion resulting in outgrowth of the system.

Mr Moipisi said the water supply outages were due to an array of factors including electrical outages, mechanical and network breakdowns, explaining that some of the electrical and mechanical-related outages could be planned for in order to effect vital maintenance of the network.

Further, he stated that there was one booster station reservoir with the capacity of 200 cubic litres and three distribution tanks with a total capacity of 1 700 cubic litres against a village demand of 2 100 cubic litres a day.

He said the standard storage capacity per village was such that it provided a two-day storage, thus Letlhakane demand dictated that the available storage should stand at 4 200 cubic litres, a situation that he said indicated a deficit of 2 500 cubic litres in storage.

Mr Moipisi also pointed out that the network expansion and water potency was part of the project for the village water supply network rehabilitation, which was shelved due to economic recession.

He said the design was undertaken by the then Ministry of Local Government prior to the water sector reforms and such design validity period had expired and therefore needed to be reviewed. 

The assistant minister said the project was not funded. 

As a short to medium term measure to address the current water shortages in Letlhakane, Water Utilities Corporation had upgraded the existing pump station in-house, he stated.

He highlighted that the long-term measure would be rehabilitation of water supply network, which would be undertaken once funds were available. 

Mr Mopisisi said the village water treatment plant was part of the project for the village network rehabilitation project, a project which he explained was currently not funded for construction.

Boteti East MP Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe had asked the minister to apprise Parliament on the status of water in Letlhakane in the past three years and to further state the area-coverage and customer demand, well filed capacity and water pressure, water outages and reasons thereof as well as availability of reservoirs or distribution tanks.

The legislator also wanted the minister to update Parliament on the village’s network expansion and water potency, if there were measures in place to address water shortage in the village, and when the village would receive a water treatment plant. ENDS