01 Mar 2020

The water treatment plant, which was recently relocated from Shakawe to Gumare, as an urgent relief to the critical water situation in the Gumare interconnection, is said to be producing less than expected.

Okavango Sub-district Council chairperson, Mr Mpoke Karapo told councillors during the ongoing sub-council session that the plant only produced 720m3 of water per day, against the current demand of 1822m3 per day, resulting in a deficit of 1102m3 per day.

“Initially this plant was not designed to produce water for Gumare interconnection, but only meant to augment the water supply to the interconnection, and this is the reason why it produces water that does not meet the demand,” he said.

However, as a way to continue trying to address acute water outages in Gumare and its surroundings, Mr Karapo said tendering was ongoing for the a plant to increase the production yield to meet the existing demand.

He also noted that the long term project for Gumare, Sepopa, Nokaneng and their interconnected areas was only funded at P25 million, which was deemed insufficient for construction of both the plant and the required pipelines.

“As a result, the project has been included in the NDP 11 mid-term review among priority projects, which we expect approval of during February 2020, after which procurement and construction will follow, as project scoping is complete,” said Mr Karapo.

Still on the issue of water supply augmentation, the sub-district council chairperson said electrification of three out of four boreholes at Etsha 6 had been successfully completed, while the remaining one had been paid for at Botswana Power Corporation and was awaiting construction.

He said converting the boreholes from being diesel-driven to be power-driven was done to reduce frequent breakdowns and to enhance efficiency.

Meanwhile, Water Utilities Corporation is said to be replacing the leaking tanks at Etsha 6 and Gumare.

Mr Karapo told councillors that the contractor was handed the site on July 22, 2019, with completion target of six months inclusive of design, construction and commissioning.

The sub-district council chairperson said upgrading and rehabilitation of the water treatment plant for Shakawe, which commenced in May 2019 was at 83 per cent as at January 2020, according to the revised programme.

The new completion date of upgrading and rehabilitation of the plant is April 12, 2020. ENDS