Gaborone Dam needs no �cleaning up�
Maranyane Ngwanaamotho | Wednesday October 29, 2014 17:35
Gaborone Dam is now at 6.8 percent with its supplies due to run out in under a month. Some experts had expected WUC to take advantage of the dam’s drying to conduct a de-silting exercise.
Yesterday, however, Infrastructure Director, Gaselemogwe Senai, said a hydrographic survey carried out nine years ago showed that there was little or no silt in the dam. “The survey showed that there was less than five percent of silt at that time,” he said.
Further to that, the WUC engaged the Botswana Defence Force last month to check the level of silt in the dam. “They reported that they were even standing on rocks which showed us there was very little silt in the dam,” he added. There are many factors that could contribute to having very little silt coming into the dam, he said. Naturally, the catchment area has very little silt, Senai added. Also, about 200 small dams along the catchment area have collected most of it. “The small dams are heavily silted and that is one of the reasons why silt is not reaching Gaborone Dam.
It shows that silt ends there,” he said. There is no need to panic should the dam dry up, he said. “We still have Dikgatlhong and Letsibogo dams in very good conditions. We have also improved the reliability of the North-South water carrier pipe. So we are confident that we will be able to handle the situation should the dam dry up,” he said.
Meanwhile, WUC Corporate Communications Manager, Matida Mmipi, said that they are currently getting 43 mega litres of water per day from the dam.
This is almost half of what they get from the dam under normal circumstances.
According to Mmipi, the dam’s failing point is when it is five percent full. However, the dam can survive beyond five percent until pumps completely fail to get any more water from the dam.