29 Jul 2024

Implementation of the Kgalagadi Water Master Plan to improve water supply is on track to meet the increasing demand.

In an interview, Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) general manager in Tsabong, Mr Benjamin Baitshenyetsi, says the existing, plant which was constructed in June 2000, has surpassed its life span and the corporation will upgrade it at a cost of P18.1 million to meet the rising demand.

“We have two reverse osmosis treatment units which used to produce 1 600 cubic metres per day but have since dropped to produce 1 200 cubic metres per day due to aging. The plant has gone past its life span and so its efficiency has dropped from 85 per cent to 72 per cent,” Mr Baitshenyetsi says.

He says the project of expansion of Tsabong reverse osmosis plant is being upgraded to produce 2 400 cubic metres per day scheduled to run for six months has been awarded to a joint venture of Irygee and Aqua Pro who were handed the site on April 15 and the project is expected to be completed at the end of October.

Currently, there are three high yielding boreholes that are lying idle due to high saline water.

“Once the plant is refurbished these boreholes will be equipped. The plant will be designed such that it will be able to treat water with high salt content. With this new plant, all Tsabong boreholes will supply the plant so that the whole village will have the same quality of water treated from the plant,” he adds.

He says the project is a design and build project and is currently at design phase. The upgrade project, he says, will help to adequately provide water supply to the Tsabong multispecies abattoir, which is soon to open, newly allocated plots within the village and Maleshe.

He says the water distribution network project was completed last year where two new boreholes were connected to the distribution network, which will be used to reticulate water from the tank to the new plots.

“Currently the line is not functional as we do not have enough water supply, so upon completion of the Tsabong Reverse Osmosis plant the water reticulation infrastructure would start to function,” he says.

On one hand, he says the Kgalagadi North project is ongoing to improve water supply in the district through the Ncojane-Macheng project, which will supply Hukuntsi, Lokgwabe, Lehututu and Tshane. The project, estimated to cost P1.2 billion, is on course and will draw water from Ncojane to Macheng villages.

“It is running this financial year and it will cover all Kgalagadi North villages such as Ukhwi, Hunhukwe, Ncaang, Zutshwa, Monong and the reticulation lines will branch into all villages until it reaches Hukuntsi,” he says.

The project, expected to run for 24 months, is at tender evaluation stage. Tender evaluation and award will take place in August. 

He explains that the present challenge is that Macheng villages receive supply through water bowsers from Kang. They need 1 600 cubic metres per day but the water authority manages to supply only 1 100 cubic metres, hence the Ncojane-Macheng project is expected to resolve the problem.

He says the Ministry of Land and Water Affairs has approved P600 million for emergency projects nationwide for the 2024/2025 financial year. Southern Kgalagadi has been allocated P81 million to deal with water hot spot areas. The funds were allocated for the Werda cluster, which includes Makopong, Draaihoek and Kokotsha and is severely affected. 

Mr Baitshenyetsi says out of the P81 million, P10 million will be used to buy a reverse osmosis packaged water plant for Kokotsha, which is currently receiving water supply through bowsing.

“We have drilled two boreholes at Kokotsha which are producing very saline water, the boreholes would be connected and equipped and we will construct waste ponds where reject water would be disposed,” he says.

He adds that Werda is endowed with wellfields, plenty of water underground, therefore the P71 million of the emergency fund will be used to clean and equip the four boreholes at Werda to make them efficient.

“We will drill six additional boreholes so that 10 boreholes will be operational. Thereafter a 2 000 cubic metres water collector tank will be constructed where all boreholes will send water and thereafter there will be construction of a water pump station which will send water to Makopong,” he says.

Again, he says there will be a water pipeline construction from Makopong to Werda, construction of village water infrastructure, including Werda, to improve water. At Makopong there will be refurbishment and upgrading of the existing booster pump station, which reticulates water to Draaihoek all as part of phase one of the project.

He says the project is at scoping stage where they collect information on what needs to be done, adding that tender documents are being prepared and tendering will start in August. The work is projected to run for 14 months.

He says the Middlepits cluster is currently getting water supply from South Africa because the ground source is not adequate. He adds that in an effort to be water independent, last year the Department of Water and Sanitation drilled three new boreholes in the area but they hit blanks. They then cleaned two existing boreholes, whose yield is insufficient to meet demand. 

Further, he says water from South Africa was expensive as Botswana is currently paying about P371 997.63 (R500 000) per month. He says they faced challenges with cross border water, especially during load shedding.

“We get affected when they have breakdowns. We have no control and therefore it is a challenge,” he says.

He says the cross border water scheme currently supplies Gakhibana, Khuis, Middlepits, Bogogobo and Kolonkwaneng.

As for Bokspits, Rappelspan, Vaalhoek and Struizendam, he says the Bokspits plant, which was constructed in 2000, is old and needs to be refurbished because it can no longer meet the demand while the population has also increased. 

“We are even doing water rationing because the cluster needs around 270 cubic metres per day but we are only able to deliver 240 cubic metres per day,” he says. 

Nevertheless, he says the plant has been included in the emergency project. Ends