Gaborone upgrades 'bloated' sewerage plant

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Tuesday November 16, 2010 00:00

Engineers involved in the project say the upgrading is urgently required as current inflows to the Plant are estimated at 55 million litres (55 megalitres) per day, forcing authorities to utilise various systems to accommodate the excess.

Even after next month's project, engineers expect that the expanded capacity will be sufficient for between two and three years, before another upgrade is required, due to the capital's rapid residential and commercial expansion.

In an interview on Friday, Gaborone City Council Chief Water and Wastewater Officer, Zibisani Philips Siwawa said funds for the project had been secured and the upgrade was expected next month.

'The budget has been identified and what is left is the water reform programme because waste water management will move from Department of  Waste Management and Pollution Control to the Water Utilities Corporation; amendment of the WUC Act to incorporate this is underway,' said Siwawa.

'After Parliament approves this, then the refurbishment of the existing plant will take place.'

Siwawa argued that the existing regulatory environment was contributing to the plant's failure to decisively deal with the city's sewerage and wastewater disposal needs. He explained that present policy obliged the city council to provide sewerage connections even when Glen Valley plant could not accommodate the new residential and commercial developments.

As a result, over the years, property development has consistently outstripped the plant's ability to effectively dispose of the sewerage and wastewater.

'The SHHA areas are being augmented and this is not included in next month's upgrading; it will impact on the capacity after the December upgrade. Similarly, the expansion of Phakalane, which is designed as a phased development, will also impact on the plant. The Botswana Housing Corporation also has a number of houses under development in Phakalane which are not catered for in the system. There's a disparity between the current developments and the wastewater management system - there's no forum where we plan together. The availability of infrastructure should dictate the pace of development, but right now the situation is the other way round and it is actually suffocating the plant,' said Siwawa.

Continuing, the Chief Water and Wastewater Officer said existing laws and policies exposed the treatment plant to ever increasing pressure from property developments. 'The policies do not allow the sewerage provider to decide whether to connect or not. We don't have the power to say 'don't develop because the treatment plant does not have capacity.'

We cannot say 'we can't take the waste' and we also cannot say it must be the developer's obligation to expand the plant. 'People think it's government's job to upgrade the plant whenever they want something in excess of the existing plant; the public does not think it's their job to upgrade certain parts of the services they are receiving.

We have so many malls, schools and other developments coming up and these do not take the sewerage plant into consideration. 'Eventually we may get suffocated and pipelines will start over-flowing; this is reason we need an overhaul and this is the reason for the forthcoming upgrade,' said Siwawa.Swedish consultants, SWECO who held a water management workshop for stakeholders on Friday, explained the different policies and legislation obtaining in the Scandinavian country.

'In Sweden, the government only provides sewerage network for homes already on the existing national grid; if you build your own home in an area not covered by the grid, you have to pay for the sewerage connection yourself. This costs up to five percent of total construction costs of the home.

The government's rationale is that if you can afford to build your own home outside the network area, you can afford to connect yourself,' said SWECO consultant, Jose Ramirez.

Ramirez told Mmegi that depending on the length and type of connection, the costs could average hundreds of thousands of Pula.

The Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, through the Department of Waste Management and Pollution Control is expected to further expand the Glen Valley Wastewater Treatment Plant after December's upgrade.

Funds permitting, the plant will be expanded to 90 megalitres and then 120 megalitres. Engineers have also suggested the establishment of satellite treatment plants strategically located to reduce pumping costs by using gravity, while relieving pressure from the Glen Valley plant.