24 Aug 2022

Okavango River water level is reportedly falling after the highest level of 2.280 metres recorded for the 2021/22 hydrological year.

The river has its origin in the semi-humid highlands of Angola and drains into the Okavango Delta. Updating on water situation in the district, Okavango Sub-council chairperson, Councilor Lesedi Boy explained that the Mohembo hydrological station  recorded a corresponding discharge of 415.90 m³/s in April 14 this year.

They are expecting the drop in observed water levels and discharge trend to continue until next rainy season on the Okavango river basin catchment area.

Cllr Boy said currently, the water level and discharge observations recorded on July 21 stood at 0.810m and 167.372 m³/s respectively as compared to water level of 0.475m and discharge of observation of 125m³/s recorded on the same date in the previous hydrological year. Comparatively, he revealed that the water levels and discharge observations for 2021/2022 were generally better than observations for the previous year.

He decried some major channel blockages in the Okavango Delta that divert the flows into flood plains and also disturb boat movement. “We are experiencing a challenge of channel blockages within the delta and is currently being addressed through removal where possible but with little progress due to limited resources,” he added.

Cllr Boy also informed councilors that there was no rainfall in the sub-district and temperatures had been very low this quarter, with the lowest and highest temperatures recorded as 0.4 and 30.7 Celsius degree respectively and were all recorded in the month of May.

Though the district experienced low temperatures, he said they did not have any bad impact in the lives of the communities. Furthermore, he pointed out that the Department of Meteorological Services had managed to install six automatic rain gauges and increased the available stations by an additional two at Nokaneng and Kaputura Kgotla.

The installation of the stations would be done before the rainfall season starts. On the water supply situation, Cllr Boy noted that the Gumare Service Centre had adequate water supply except for the villages of Nokaneng, Habu, Sepopa and its outstations.

He said the current treatment capacity of Nokaneng and Sepopa water treatment plants was insufficient to meet the demand, adding that the corporation continued to bowse and ration water supply in the villages with water deficiencies.

Most villages within the service centre, he said, were prone to vandalism of water infrastructure by residents for livestock watering purposes, mostly along the Sepopa-Gumare transmission pipeline. He also attributed vandalism of water infrastructure to elephants in and around Etsha 1 and 6.

He also informed the sub-council that since commissioning of the Gumare and Shakawe water treatment plants, water supply had drastically improved allowing for private water connections.

Customers have been encouraged to come forward to apply for water connections and to note that despite water availability in both Gumare and Shakawe, some plots lie outside water works (water network), hindering possible private connections.

Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) was also reported to be making efforts to provide full reticulation for all plots that do not lie within water works to increase the service centre’s customer base.

As an interim measure, Cllr Boy revealed that the corporation was installing public standpipes for water supply in the affected villages, citing water reticulation project ongoing in Phase 1, Gumare, which is expected to be complete soon.

He implored his colleagues to encourage members of the community to pay their water bills to avoid disconnections, inconveniences and the opportunity to wash hands frequently to continue fighting COVID-19.

Cllr Boy noted that the service centre’s debt stood at P11 million even though the corporation had started implementing measures to recover the debt.

 “I am particularly concerned about disconnected customers who are not coming forward for reconnections. We should all discourage disconnected customers who resort to illegal connections for continued water supply,” he added.  ENDS