29 Jul 2024

The steelpipe water project, alias North-South Carrier 2.2, with a 1.2-metre diameter has come to its practical completion and Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) has already started pumping water from both the pump stations located in Lemone and Mmamabule.

In a recent media brief, WUC chief executive officer, Mr Gaselemogwe Senai said the project, with about 50 years’ lifespan and runs from Palapye to Gaborone, takes over from the previous North-South Carrier 2.1, which due to budgetary constraints, had to be commissioned to channel water from Dikgatlhong to Palapye.

Mr Senai said the pipeline would end in Mmamashia where they were constructing one of the biggest water treatment plants in Southern Africa, which originally carried about 110 million litres a day, and now in its revamped status would carry 220 million litres per day.

He said the pumped water had already passed Tewane on July 11, and expected to reach Mmamashia month end

He added that according to their planning, they had anticipated that by the time the water arrived in Mmamashia, the plant would be fully completed.

However, he said, all pending items within the plant would be completed in two to three weeks and their water supply plans would officially become operational then.

This would bring a long-lasting solution to water shortages that have been observed over years in southern Botswana.

Regarding completion of WUC major projects, Mr Senai said already they finished Gamononyane-Molepolole, Gamononyane-Kanye, Mmamashia-Gaborone, East Gaborone-Gaborone Dam to allow them to pump water to the dam and also to enable them to pump water back to other regions whenever there was a shortage.

He added that there was yet another pipe which pumped water from Oodi via Gaborone North, Sebele to Airport (Special Economic Zone area). WUC has also completed a pipe that branches from Mmamashia via Gaborone West to the Forest Hill reservoir, which carries a capacity of 92 million litres.

Mr Senai said this tank would become the centre for water reticulation in greater south and west of Gaborone. The corporation has also completed the Lobatse Water Master plan.

He said this was by far the biggest pipeline that ran from Gaborone to Lobatse, and proceeded all the way to Good Hope to provide 32 villages with water.

Both the Mmamashia Water Treatment Plant and the Forest Hill reservoir did not have water yet as they were awaiting water from the North-South Carrier 2.2. Once the water reached these sites, then they will start pumping into the Forest Hill tank to service Lobatse and Good Hope areas.

The corporation has also completed the necessary infrastructure in Kanye and Molepolole and they were alternating provision of water to these places as they still experience water shortages since waters from the north have not reached the south yet.

Mr Senai said when commissioning the Gamononyane Pump Station they started on a 15 per cent deficit, hence it was important for waters from the north to reach the south. At present they were engaged with interchanging distribution of the little waters available between Kanye and Molepolole.

Mr Senai said not all was lost as Molepolole storage tanks were full to capacity.

He said the demand for Molepolole stood at 13 million litres per day. In the past, they could only distribute eight million litres daily from the reservoirs.

The problem, Mr Senai said, was that water did not reach households properly as a result of pipe infrastructure layout, which was insufficient and not satisfactorily accessible. Nevertheless, in 2020 WUC completed the design on pipe layout and was awaiting money to carry it out.

About dam levels, Mr Senai said their capacity at the moment was worrisome and low compared to last year.

For instance, he said, the 400 million cubic litre capacity Dikgatlhong Dam, which remained the main source of water for both central and south region of Botswana, last year this time around was at 92 per cent, but this year it is at 74 per cent.

However, he assured that this dam could still support these regions with water for the next 24 months without any rain. The Lotsane Dam was nearing its state of dryness at 23 per cent. The Gaborone Dam is 46 per cent full, Bokaa Dam at 47 and Letsibogo Dam at 45 per cent. Ends