Gaborone Dam: A reality check

| Wednesday December 17, 2014 20:10

The 51-year-old landmark’s failure, for the first time in history, is worsened by the absence of inflows and challenges in the fluid supply of water from the north. Despite their lack of technology and modernity, the ancestors of this land were keenly aware of its aridity. Their simple, homespun wisdom was formed around water conservation and they attached great value to each and every drop they could recover and store.

The great-grandparents of the current generation equally shared this reverence for a painfully finite and precarious resource, whose limited availability shaped the distribution of the country’s population and to an extent, its economic stratification.

The same prudence informed building designs in the post Independence-era construction sector, where all structures were outfitted with rainwater harvesting features such as gutters and in some cases, water collection containers. The advent and spread of modern water reticulation and waste disposal, where potable supplies became increasingly available at the turn of a tap, dulled the collective prudence around water that Batswana prided themselves in.

While the traditional entreaty ‘Pula’ still punctuates most official gatherings, less value is attached to a drop of water today, as our modern lifestyles have lulled us into a sense of security. Full kettles are used to boil a single cup of coffee, sibling toddlers are bathed separately, gardens are watered with potable supplies, while all used water is allowed to run down the drain. When unreported leakages, near absence of rainwater harvesting and the failure of the development control code to require such, are factored in, it is no wonder this laissez faire approach to water conservation has led us to our present troubles.

As consumers, we have abandoned the time-honoured and tested water conservation practices and become singularly reliant on Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) supply grid, as though the water is piped in from some infinite source. Water experts say at least 60 percent of all water used in homes can be captured and reused, while rainwater harvesting would limit a consumer’s dependence on the WUC to only the potable supplies required for cooking and bathing.

In fact, if every resident of greater Gaborone practised rainwater harvesting or reuse in some way, our taxes could be channelled away from developing more water infrastructure such as well-fields and into economic opportunities for our children. A mindset change is critically needed. All consumers, particularly the households who are exclusively dependent on the national water grid, need to revisit the prudence of old. Gaborone Dam’s demise should shock us into a new era of greater self-reliance in the area of water usage.

Today’s thought

“When the well’s dry, we know

the worth of water.”

 

- Benjamin Franklin