04 Feb 2013

The Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources has no plans to draw water from the Xakanaka and Guma lagoons to supply domestic water to Maun, Boteti and surrounding areas as well as the Kweneng District mainly for environmental and economic reasons.

The Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso told Ntlo ya Dikgosi that drawing water from Xakanaka Lagoon would entail traversing through Moremi Game Reserve which poses serious environment hazards.

Ms Tshireletso said the game reserve was a RAMSAR site, adding that Botswana as a signatory to the RAMSAR convention has an obligation to protect the game reserve.

 “The Guma Lagoon gets its inflows through Tlhaoge River which was facing blockage changes thus making it an unreliable source of water,” she said.

Ms Tshireletso said the ministry through the Department of Water Affairs had over the years been monitoring those lagoons and their observation was that Guma Lagoon dried up quickly due to evaporation process during the dry season hence drawing water from the lagoon would not be a sustainable option from an economic and source reliability point of view.

 She said the ministry had put in place plans to supply Maun, Boteti and the surrounding areas as well as Kweneng District with water from other sources which were deemed to be more sustainable, cost effective with satisfactory environmental implications.

The plan, she said, entailed initiatives such as the Maun Water and Sanitation Project, borehole development at Malwelwe, Botlhapatlou and connecting Molepolole to the North South Carrier.

Kgosi Mmualefhe Mmualefhe of Chobe District had asked the minister whether he would consider supplying domestic water to Maun, Boteti and the surrounding areas as well as Kweneng District through water reticulation system from the Xakanaka and Guma Lagoons. ENDS