WUC general manager Boitumelo Kgaodi is reported saying that they lose about 32 percent of potable water in Molepolole through massive leaks caused by burst pipes. At the same function, reports say WUC engineer, Seabe Mabua, asserted that there is almost a 26 percent shortfall of potable water in the area. It does not need a professor of algorithms or logarithms to know that preventing a loss of 32 percent by sealing the massive pipe leaks will more than compensate for the 26 percent shortfall. But what do we hear from Kgaodi and Mabua? That the solution to the water problem in Molepolole and surrounding areas lies with spending millions to install electricity powered water pumps and reservoirs, stand-by generators, sink more boreholes and buying water bowsers.
What about the 32 percent wastage? The solution to this should have formed a major thrust in the delivery of Kgaodi and Mabua as a matter of urgency. It is easier and perhaps cheaper to replace old small pipes than to install electricity powered water pumps, build reservoirs, buy stand-by generators and sink more boreholes. While we are happy that WUC is doing something about the water problem in Molepolole, we are concerned with the approach. First things should come first. There is no need of pumping increased amounts of water into small old pipes that burst at the drop of a hat. WUC should first install new water pipes that will sustain the boosted supply envisaged when other remedial measures are put in place. Otherwise, the amount of water lost through leakages will not just be 32 percent.
