WUC must wake up
Mmegi Editor | Friday October 21, 2016 17:26
The body of the victim was retrieved seven hours after his companion reported the drowning to the Old Naledi police station.
The police confirmed that the fishing season is closed and that the two men entered the Gaborone dam area illegally.
The questions that arise are: how secure is the area, and how many unreported cases of drowning may have occurred?
The scary one is how many people may have been tossed into the dam after they were murdered, or otherwise, or how many have committed suicide by drowning themselves.
The answers lie on the security of the dam. It is clear that the security is poor and this exposes the nation to all forms of sabotage.
The world is faced with an upsurge in acts of terrorism and we should not mislead ourselves into thinking that we are immune to terror attacks. Water is a scarce resource in Botswana and we all know the impact this has had in our lives. Since 2012, we have been living on the last drops of Gaborone Dam, the situation, which was saved by other dams in the northern part of the country such as Letsibogo, Shashe, Dikgatlhong, and Lotsane amongst others.
It is therefore critical to provide tight security for these facilities, the same way as we protect wildlife from poachers, or our diamonds from smugglers.
We have invested a lot of money and resources on anti poaching exercises and we continue to do that because of the importance of wildlife to our economy.
While it is a fact that the water from our dams is treated before it can be distributed to the consumers, we should be mindful of the ever-present threats that may result in massive water contamination.
We are all aware of the challenge of waste control in this country, or facing the developing countries.
Some companies dealing in chemicals may use our dams as a convenient solution to their waste disposal and therefore exposing us to all forms of ailments and conditions some of which symptoms may only start showing after a long period of time. Just this week, participants at a Waste Management Pitso held in Gaborone were informed that some sections of Notwane River have been contaminated.
Obviously, the contamination is from chemicals, and it is very expensive to clean and rehabilitate an environment after such acts.
We therefore call on Water Utilities Corporation and other relevant stakeholders to beef up security at our dams before it is too late.
Today’s thought
'The wars of the twenty-first century will be fought over water.'
– Ismali Serageldin