23 Oct 2022

The completion of the water treatment project in Kasane will address water shortage and its poor quality in the nine villages of Chobe District.

Addressing a stakeholder engagement meeting last week, Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) engineer, Mr Mogomotsi Mothowakgosi said the current water demand for the nine villages was 5.5 mega litres per day and that the water treatment plant only produced five mega litres per day.

He said while waiting for the completion of the project in March next year, the corporation was putting in place mitigating measures to address the deficit and poor quality.

He said the challenges of inadequate supply and poor quality in Pandamatenga would be addressed by the ongoing water supply scheme.

He noted that through the project an additional borehole would be connected to the two currently supplying the village.

He added that all of them would be electrified and that a desalination plant would be constructed to remove all impurities such as salt.

Mr Mothowakgosi said in Lesoma the challenge was insufficient reticulation at the new plots and that through the constituency community projects, a five-kilometre extension of the network would be undertaken.

He added that the project was scheduled to start next month.

As for the poor water quality from the treatment plants in Kasane and Kazungula, Mr Mothowakgosi said while WUC mostly complied with the national water standards, in rare cases they failed to meet the standard.

He said when the water quality became a challenge the corporation changed the purification chemical and that the new one performed better.

He said he was confident that the water quality would be addressed by the new Kasane treatment plant.

He also said the lack of reticulation would be addressed by the ongoing Kasane-Kazungula network rehabilitation.

He also noted that there was a challenge of waste water spillage in Kazungula and that they replaced the valves.

He urged the community to desist from disposing hard objects in the system.

In Kasane, he said inadequate reticulation would be addressed by the new water treatment plant.

In Mabele, he said a booster station and a big tank would be commissioned to supply plots in the plateau area, which were currently not getting water.

Kasane water treatment plant project manager, Mr Herbert Magosi said the P300 million project that commenced last September would be completed in March.

Mr Magosi said the project would address water shortage in the district and cater for the Kasane/Kazungula redevelopment projects water needs. He said the plant would meet the district’s water demand for the next 20 years and would produce 16 mega litres of water daily. ENDs