Northwestern flicker of hope for thirsty Gaborone
Mbongeni Mguni | Friday May 29, 2015 15:03
Earlier this week, the 500,000 or so residents of the Greater Gaborone region received communication many have come to loathe and fear in equal amounts. The Water Utilities Corporation announced that due to a burst on the North South Carrier near Palapye, water supply to Gaborone and surrounding areas would be cut for three days or more starting on March 28.
This is over and above the tri-weekly water cuts through which the corporation has attempted to prolong the limited supplies of water to the country’s most economically important region. Since November 2012, the city and its environs have borne an ever-deepening water supply crisis.
Since January 1, consumers in the Greater Gaborone area have received six dreaded/loathed notices from the Water Utilities Corporation:
l January 30, 2015 – Water supply
interruptions
l March 10, 2015 – Breakdown of the
North-South Carrier
l March 26, 2015 – Failure of the North-
South Carrier and Molatedi Scheme
l April 22, 2015 – Breakdown of North-
South Carrier at Oodi
l May 7, 2015 – Power issues on the North-
South Carrier
l May 25, 2015 – Pipe burst upstream from Palapye on the North-South Carrier
The North-South Carrier, a 360 kilometre pipeline running from Letsibogo Dam, has been the capital’s lifeline since Gaborone Dam’s demise, providing 60 million litres a day out of a daily consumption of 125 million litres.
The frequent breakdowns, sometimes lasting as long as a week in some areas, have pushed consumers towards the brink, with many unable to store additional water or conserve any further. The situation has covered the capital with a pall of despair, with Gaborone residents, long used to the modern convenience of running water, spending increasing amounts of time innovating around water availability. This week, Minerals, Energy and Water Resources permanent secretary, Kgomotso Abi, shined a ray of hope on the gloom, revealing that government had decided to bring forward plans to capture the Zambezi River’s waters for use in the south. Originally conceived by the Ministry of Agriculture as an effort to draw water for commercial agriculture in Pandamatenga, the Chobe Zambezi was first dreamt up around 2000. The idea was to draw up to 495 million cubic metres per annum of water from the Chobe/Zambezi river system near the Kazungula/Kasane area in the Chobe District for irrigation development. Extending the pipeline southwards to connect with the North South Carrier and forwards to Greater Gaborone was an idea envisaged for the years around 2030.
“Under the water master plan, the initial idea was for the agricultural projects at Pandamatenga under the Ministry of Agriculture,” Abi told probing Parliamentary Accounts Committee members on Thursday morning.
“However, because of the problems of water in Gaborone there has been a rethink of that, looking at the drying of Gaborone and Molatedi dams.
“Currently, we are saying it is a priority that we must bring the Chobe project all the way down to the South to Greater Gaborone.”
Within five years, government hopes to have built the pipeline up to Palapye where the water can be fed into the existing North South Carrier I or the upcoming North South Carrier II, for pumping to Gaborone.
A network of pump-stations and other works will be required to deliver the Zambezi’s waters into the taps of Gaborone residents, but this is the least of the challenges associated with the project. Project funding of at least P16 billion will need to be sourced to pipe and pump the water from Chobe to Gaborone and government strategists are looking around.
“We have the funds for engineering like the review of the original designs,” Abi said.
“We don’t have the full budget for implementation and we are working on that.”
Although the project remains at least seven years away, water sector experts say it is a step in the right direction in terms of visionary policy making and the need to take advantage of shared riparian rights in a timely manner. Gaborone’s relief will not come today, but in under a decade, the nightmares of today could be distant memories, Abi and his colleagues promise.