Water crisis in Tonota sub-district persists

ISAAC PINIELO
Correspondent | Friday October 15, 2010 00:00

 

As for those residents who are new to these villages it is hardly a surprise that they are beginning to wonder whether migrating to these villages was a good move in the first place.

As for 42-year-old Tshenolo Mari, she regrets moving from the City of Francistown to live in Chadibe village six months ago.  She had just completed building her house in Chadibe and was excited that she would not be paying rent anymore.

'I was so excited that I never anticipated having to encounter water shortages, let alone drinking contaminated water from the river,' says Mari who is a mother of five.

Although she is aware of the implications of drinking contaminated water, Mari says the situation has left her with no choice but to risk catching water-borne diseases.  She says: 'What else can we do?  You know very well that one cannot live without water.  We need water to drink, cook or bath, more especially during these hot summer days.'

Mari assumes a solemn face as she relates how she and her children sometimes go for days without eating or bathing due to lack of water.

She says ever since their taps ran dry they now relieve themselves in the bush because their indoor toilets cannot work without water.

'Without water we cannot use our water-flushed toilets.  This on its own presents a putrefying spectacle to the bush as more and more people are using it,' says Mari, noting that the bush is now becoming an eyesore due to the human waste in sight.

She goes on to explain that at times the water would drip from their taps for a few hours at night and stop dripping very early in the morning, which makes it difficult for us because they would be sleeping.

In most situations, Mari says, the taps literally dry up, which compels them to push wheelbarrows to the river where they fetch water using huge 20 and 25-litre containers.

 Badiri Chibili, 76, says he is also faced with a serious problem of water, adding that since it was announced that WUC has taken over the supply of water in the village he anticipated that their woes would be over.

Chibili points out that the few public standpipes that supply the whole of Chadibe Village have all run dry. 'Most of us now have to walk long distances to Shashe River to fetch water,' he reveals, adding that the riverbed is often swamped by people who come to fetch water using wheelbarrows loaded with several buckets and 20-litre containers.

Another resident of Borolong, Tapologo Moisiraele, claims that ever since they have had water problems in the village, his two children often go to school without bathing.

'The older child is doing Form Two at Tlhalogang JSS while the other one is at Tlhalogang Primary School, doing Standard Six.  They often go to school with dirty clothes because there is no water to wash their clothes,' he says.

He says they have been assured that the situation would get better, but in vain.  'Things are getting even worse by the day.  We have small vegetable gardens and now they are all going to die due to the shortage of water,' states Moisiraele.  As a last resort, he says they fetch water from the river, which he says is not good for their health.

Yet more villagers with other residential homes in the city say they would be going back there until the situation is rectified. 

The villages of Chadibe, Borolong and Shashe-Mooke fall under the Tonota Sub-district and are supplied with water by the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC), which took over the supply of water in February this year from the sub-district.

Besides these three villages, others that fall under the Tonota Sub-district are Ditladi, Makobo, Natale, Jamataka and Mathangwane.  These villages were in the past supplied with water by the council, through the Department of Water Affairs.

Ever since then, some villages under the Tonota Sub-district have been experiencing acute water shortages.  In some instances, villagers go for weeks without water.

Late last year, Chadibe and Borolong villages went for three weeks without water and the problem was attributed to change of responsibility from the sub-district to the corporation.

But water works engineer at WUC, Taita Tlhabologang recently shifted the blame to the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC).  He said the cause of the water crisis in the Tonota region is due to the recent power outages in neighbouring Francistown.

 Whilst the engineer dwells on blaming the BPC, the water situation in these villages is said to have become 'intolerable', driving some villagers to desperation.  Most have now resorted to fetching contaminated water from Shashe River.

Most people in these villages use water for drinking, bathing, cooking, irrigation and watering livestock and pets.  Other people have water-system toilets that use water to flush away waste.

Lately, health experts warned that it is very risky and unhealthy to drink from the river, indicating that water from the river is contaminated and unhealthy to drink unless it is boiled.

It was also established that many residents of the affected villages (Chadibe, Shashe-Mooke and Borolong), often drink water from the river without boiling it, sparking fears of a cholera outbreak.

Meanwhile, councillor for these villages, Jabulani Vuke said he has communicated the problem with officers of the Water Utilities Corporation and reached an agreement that the villagers would be supplied with water using bowsers.