29 Aug 2023

Maun water situation has prompted Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) to implement water rationing in the village.

This was said by WUC Head of Business Center, Mr Thabo Ndadi when updating the media about the water situation in Maun Friday.

He said water rationing exercise however experienced setback recently due to vandalism of some pipelines that brought water to Maun.

He observed that the pipelines situated at some settlements about 40 kilometers from Maun had been damaged.

Mr Ndadi however, said pipelines and other constraints were resolved therefore water supply was restored a few days ago.

He said the drying of Thamalakane River which is  of the sources of water for Maun worsened water shortage.

“Maun requires about 15 million liters of water per day therefore we experienced shortage when the river dried,” he said.

Mr Ndadi said drying of the river affected Borolong treatment plant hence only boreholes of Kunyere, Sexaxa and Shashe Well fields  supplied the village.

He said  WUC as a result came up with water rationing to meet water demands between April to August this year.

Further, he said since the Thamalakane River received its annual waters lately, the corporation was still assessing the state of the water and would soon start operation of the Borolong treatment plant which would improve water supply by at least 30 per cent.

He said an additional six boreholes were expected to be commissioned soon which would improve water supply situation.

The Maun Phase II project, he said once completed would also help with water storage as it had capacity of about 48 hours storage which would address the current situation of lack of water storage.

Mr Ndadi also appealed to the community of Maun to use water properly by prioritizing domestic use and to guard against vandalism of pipelines.

The WUC general manager-Maun, Mr Paul Mafavuneh said the corporation had distributed about 12 water bowsers tanks in most affected wards in Maun to help address water situation.

North West District Council Chairman, Mr Itumeleng Kelebetseng said council would strive to partner with other organisations to address challenges facing the community.

He therefore said the NW Council was working together with WUC in water bowsing to most affected areas in Maun. 

He said some issues like water supply to ungazetted areas required change in policies. ENDs