Water situation remains precarious

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Friday August 30, 2013 00:00

By this time last year, Gaborone dam was at 43 percent, Molatedi was at 48 percent while Nnywane was 38 percent full. The water crisis in Botswana has been made worse by the fact that another source, the Molatedi dam in South Africa is also drying. The dam is now at 22.65 percent full. Usually, Botswana gets 7.3 million cubic metres from Molatedi per year, but the figure is reduced to half when the dam is below 26 percent full. Currently the dam's supply to Gaborone is only eight percent. The Water Utilities Corporation says this is insignificant considering the fact that greater Gaborone's daily demand is 125 million litres. 

Meanwhile, dams in the northern parts of the country are still full with most of them above 70 percent. Letsibogo is at 71 percent; Shashe is at 79 percent while Ntimbale dam is at 85 percent full. The newly built Dikgatlhong dam is at 41 percent even though it is not in use as yet. However, WUC has previously warned that dams in the northern part of the country may not retain their supplies for long if the rains come and the water situation improves. This is because the northern dams are now supplying the south through the North-South Water Carrier pipe. Currently, the corporation has imposed restrictions to conserve water. Recently, the corporation said that it was making progress in reducing water demand through the restrictions. It said the restriction has reduced water use by 16 percent.