No quick relief for parched Gaborone
Mbongeni Mguni | Friday September 4, 2015 17:00
With another shutdown scheduled for today, and due to inflict a 75 percent deficit for the next few days, Mmegi Staff Writer, MBONGENI MGUNI, reports the words of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources minister, Kitso Mokaila who carries the nation’s hopes on his shoulders
“The thing that destroys good plans is a panicked captain. Water projects by their nature take time. They don’t happen overnight. But we will manage the problem.”
Mokaila, the usually affable minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, is in his element as he addresses a room full of blatantly sceptical journalists. He works the room, cracking jokes, providing soundbites and even teasing some. He is projecting the confidence he hopes consumers will endow him with, as the greater Gaborone region faces the deepest water crisis in its history.
Following the shocking failure of the 51-year Gaborone Dam last September and the continuation of electricity shortages, Mokaila has needed every ounce of his confidence to match his resolve in tackling challenges that have the potential of unravelling the economy.
Whatever the pressure of the crisis, today he is in the zone, providing a litany of reasons why consumers should have faith that the water crisis will be resolved.
Those closest to Mokaila however, have seen another side to him. Far from the genial easy-going personality before the flashing cameras today, the minister is known to have down days, when the stress of the mammoth challenges on his plate leave his shoulders hunched. Those in the know speak of quiet, dark moments when Mokaila introspects, the smiles, and the jokes gone as the gravity of what he has to achieve glares down on him. And the situation is grave.
Water runs dry
According to figures provided by Mokaila and his technocrats at the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC), the greater Gaborone region is running on empty. Gaborone Dam and Bokaa Dam have both failed, removing the 112 million litres per day they used to provide at peak. Molatedi Dam in South Africa, which used to provide 20 million litres per day at peak, is now at about nine percent and only provides five million litres for 12 hours.
The Ramotswa and Masama East wellfields are collectively providing 25 million litres per day.
The lifeline is the 60 million litres per day provided from both Letsibogo Dam and Dikgatlhong Dam through the problematic 360-kilometre long North South Carrier, where yet a leak will force a shutdown today until sometime next week. With the existing supplies, the region is running an 18 million-litre deficit, even with ‘water shedding’ and this weekend will bring a fresh low. The 15-year-old Glass Reinforced Fibre North South Carrier is playing the villain to Mokaila’s heroics, suffering frequent breakages and leaks that necessitate scouring out and lengthy repairs. The current crises in areas such as Mmopane, Mogoditshane, Tlokweng and others, Mokaila says, are directly related to troubles in this pipeline. These areas are hardest hit because they are further away from where the Carrier feeds into the network and thus have to wait till other areas are saturated, which at times can take weeks.
“You are saying it’s doom and gloom, but I am held ransom by the infrastructure and if it does not break, then all of us can bath. That’s a good sell.
“If we don’t have breakages in supply, the little that we have should suffice. The challenges, like in the last two weeks, were because there was a breakage and we lost supply from the pump stations.
“The North South Carrier could, thus, not deliver the 60 million litres that should be there. That’s a major challenge.
“Also, because you used to get it from Gaborone Dam, the water flow was faster, but now it takes longer to saturate the lines and as such areas such as Tlokweng, Mogoditshane and others suffer.
“Yes, there’s a problem and we are fully aware and have been since we started rationing in November 2012 and we know what we are doing about it.”
The solution
Going by Mokaila and his lieutenant’s plans, the earliest residents of greater Gaborone will be assured of stable, sustainable supply will be early in 2017. This will be when the Masama West wellfields join the eastern wellfields to collectively supply about 60 million litres per day and when the North South Carrier II, a pipeline from Dikgatlhong Dam, will provide another 120 million litres.
These alone should be more than adequate for a region whose peak daily demand for water is 145 million litres. These plans discount the availability of Gaborone Dam, which previously used to be the region’s mainstay, providing 84 million litres per day.Longer-term plans include the Chobe Zambezi pipeline planned for 2023 and the Lesotho Highlands project, where further discussions between Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho are scheduled for November.
The WUC, according to Mokaila’s deputy permanent secretary, Thatayaone Dedede, is also working with Israeli experts on a study to identify the country’s groundwater resources, both saline and fresh, and figure out ways to recharge them artificially.
A previous study obtained by Mmegi suggests that Botswana could have potential groundwater resources of 5,5 million cubic metres per year. Saline groundwater resources, sand rivers and groundwater recharge rates are presently unknown.
How did this happen?
According to Mokaila, government and its experts were not caught flat-footed by the water crisis in greater Gaborone.
“It was evident in November 2012 that there was a looming problem and that we needed to do something with the little water we had,” he explains.
“We rationed to prolong the little that we had. We also started projects that were supposed to ensure the security of supply, such as the pump stations at Dikgatlhong Dam, the 75 kilometre pipeline from there to Moralane and the North South Carrier II from Moralane to Palapye, as well as the 26 kilometre by-pass of the North South Carrier at Dikabeya.
“We went further and got the Masama East wellfields running because we saw that Gaborone Dam was drying.”
However, what Mokaila says next suggests few in the planning room expected the cruel cocktail of factors that have caused the current crisis in greater Gaborone.
“Even in the planning, I don’t think anyone actually thought it would be this dry. That Gaborone Dam would be dry, that Molatedi would be dry, that Bokaa would be dry.”
After fielding at least two hours of questions from the media, Mokaila leaves to have a quick lunch and then face Business Botswana (formerly BOCCIM), who also have a debriefing scheduled with the minister.
“We need answers. Our investors need answers. He cannot control the rain, but he can provide assurances,” says a corporate secretary with a leading firm, who has arrived early for the briefing.
Next week, Mokaila addresses Kgotla meetings in Mmopane and Mogoditshane, the areas hardest hit by the current crisis.