04 Oct 2019

Thirty five potential boreholes have been identified to water livestock belonging to the community around Lake Ngami.

The boreholes were identified by a task team, which was set up by the Ngamiland District leadership, following a meeting held on September 2 on the drying up of Lake Ngami and interventions to alleviate loss of animal life.

The team, which is made up of stakeholders from different organisations, was tasked to identify boreholes as well as to establish water quantity and quality of the boreholes within the Lake Ngami area.

Presenting the report to farmers’ committees, dikgosi and Village Development Committees from villages surrounding the lake at Sehithwa kgotla recently, the team leader, Mr Kutlo Kgobero explained that the team was tasked to identify boreholes that could be availed for provision of water in the lake area and/or drilling new boreholes.

Mr Kgobero, who is Department of Water and Sanitation regional manager, said the task team also undertook the physical identification and water sampling of the boreholes.

He said the team managed to identify the physical locations of only 24 boreholes, 14 of which were sampled for water quality, four were vandalised or blocked, four were dry, one belongs to the mine and classified not of good quality, while one was outstanding.

He revealed that six out of 14 boreholes were in compliance with the Botswana standard for livestock watering (BOS365:2010), while the remaining boreholes did not comply due to the elevated level of Total Dissolved Solids.

Furthermore, he said the yields of all the boreholes had not been ascertained from the borehole records, adding that it was an ongoing exercise. He stated that the six boreholes with good quality water fell outside the preferred 10-kilometre radius from Lake Ngami.

These are the Bosele 1, BH 10862, BH 10864, BH 10867 in Bodibeng area and the one further away in Semboyo (Boseja) area.

In addition, Mr Kgobero said that the areas of Toteng, Sehithwa, Bothatogo had no borehole of good water quality available for immediate equipping.

He observed that the quality of the water from the boreholes in Bothatogo area was highly saline and at least four times the required limit.

He said four boreholes namely Bosele 1 (Bodibeng), BH10485, Lake Ngami 1 and Semboyo 1 were found illegally in use for livestock watering, adding that the water, from all the boreholes were not suitable for livestock, except for Bosele 1.

Lastly, he said only four boreholes were readily available for  equipping to alleviate loss of animal lives. The said boreholes are located in the Bodibeng area with none to serve the Toteng, Bothatogo and Sehithwa community.

The team recommended the rehabilitation of BH 10106 and 10231 boreholes to target the Toteng and Sehithwa community. ENDS