World Bank lends weight to wastewater project

MBONGENI MGUNI
Staff Writer | Friday September 3, 2010 00:00

 

The reclamation of treated effluent from the Glen Valley Wastewater Treatment Plant is expected to augment potable water supplies to Greater Gaborone which, like the rest of the country, suffers periodic shortages.

The World Bank's in-depth Progress Report of the Water Resources Sector Strategy released on Wednesday supports Botswana's National Water Master Plan, which envisions the wastewater reuse project.

The report articulates the strategy for the World Bank's water lending and investment between 2010 and 2013, outlining the criteria and goals of the various forms of assistance given to member states. The Progress Report is an update of the original Water Resources Sector Strategy that was produced and adopted by member states in 2003.

The World Bank strategy reveals that its water commitments between 2010 and 2013 are projected at between US$21 billion and US$23 billion across five investment areas.

Although seemingly unpalatable to some local consumers, one of these investment areas is wastewater treatment and reuse, which is already being done across the world and even as close as South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

The World Bank's investment will be through its organs, the International Development Association (IDA), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

'The IFC is preparing a new business plan, which will focus on five investment areas: water demand management and efficiency, wastewater treatment and reuse/sanitation and solid waste, water supply, distributed services and innovative technologies,' the report reads. 'IDA/IBRD commitments are projected to grow steadily from 2010 to 2013,'

Botswana authorities will also take heart in the report's revelations that the IFC recently signed a US$75 million (P512.25 million) loan to fund wastewater treatment for reuse schemes around Brazil.

To demonstrate the seriousness of the World Bank, the report laments the international organisation's 'erosion of core skills' in areas such as wastewater reuse, water management, water use efficiency, dams and hydrology, pointing out that it has often had to engage experts in these fields for its various programmes.

Wastewater reuse, according to the Progress Report, is also among its strategic objectives for 2010 to 2013.Along with numerous other supply side interventions such as construction of dams and extension of water supply infrastructure, the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources hopes to tender out the construction of a wastewater and effluent reclamation plant soon. It is understood the plant will be located at the existing Glen Valley Wastewater Treatment Plant, with supplies likely being fed back to the Gaborone Waterworks situated near the Gaborone Dam.

Already, wastewater from the Glen Valley plant is being reused for irrigation, landscaping, commercial farming, golf course irrigation and private residential gardens through agreements with the Gaborone City Council.

A 2007 report by consultants for the wastewater and effluent reclamation for potable use project indicates that even with these users in place, supplies will still exist to support the proposed plant.

It is expected that the reclamation plant will use six high technology filtration, disinfection and stabilisation processes. Besides these, the Botswana Bureau of Standards is expected to closely monitor and enforce its potable water quality standards, already in force for the country's existing water supplies.