29 Jul 2024

The past six years have seen a significant improvement of expansion of water supply and distribution through the implementation of National Water Master Plan projects. 

This has been anchored on President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s determination to ensure water security for the citizens, with 98 per cent of the country’s population currently having access to potable water. 

This development has helped moisten Botswana’s semi-arid terrain, and quench the thirst of a nation whose salute emblazoned across the coat of arms is a call for rain, ‘Pula!’, writes Pako Lebanna.

“When President Masisi took the oath of office in April 2018, it coincided with the onset of the eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11), which was in effect from April 2017 to March 2023. At the time, we were experiencing severe water shortage countrywide, as a drought-prone country. President Masisi pushed for us to develop a sustainable water infrastructure,” Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) chief executive officer (CEO), Mr Gaselemogwe Senai says in an interview.

Mr Senai says the past six years have since seen Botswana vastly improve its water security infrastructure countrywide.

He says the country already had the National Water Master Plan of 1991, which was last reviewed in 2018. 

But there was a backlog of projects as finances were focused on other development initiatives, and water projects were deferred. President Masisi then set the tone for water projects to be delivered,” he states.

While the country was faced with a challenge of both water supply and distribution, a decision was taken by the line ministry and WUC to first prioritise the supply of water, through projects such as the second phase of the North South Carrier (NSC2) and Masama Wellfields.

He explains that the Masama Wellfields was developed as an emergency project to close supply deficit in the short term, while the NCS 2 and expansion of Mmamashia Water Treatment Plant to double the current 110 millilitres (ML) per day to 220 ML per day, addressed the medium term demand,” he says.

He adds that water shortfall in the greater Gaborone area was reduced from 30 per cent to 15 per cent by the Masama project, while the practical completion of NSC2, the construction of a pipeline from Palapye to Gaborone and a state of the art water treatment plant, will see the extinguishing of the water deficit for the current planning horizon.

“In addition, NSC 2.3 has seen the reinforcement of the supply of water, pumping water from Mmamashia to Gaborone, also being able to be pumped in the opposite direction, Oodi to Sebele to the Airport Special Economic Zone area (SEZA) as well as from Mmamashia to Forest Hill, where we built the second largest water reservoir in Southern Africa,” he reveals.

He adds that the areas benefiting from this improved water supply include Gaborone, Mogodistshane, Mochudi cluster of villages, Tlokweng, Ramotswa and other villages in the South East District, Kweneng East cluster of villages, Thamaga, Moshupa and the Kanye area.

Mr Senai further reveals that the Gamononyane Pump Station in the Kweneng District is complete to benefit the Molepolole and Lentsweletau cluster of villages, while the Lobatse Master Water Supply Master Plan will benefit the domestic and industrial needs of Lobatse as well as the Good Hope/Barolong Farms Area. Further north, pipelines were built from Letsibogo Dam to supply the villages around Serule to Mmadinare, and villages such as Radisele, Mogome and Mokgware were connected to the NSC2 pipeline.

Mr Senai also says the Palapye Water Treatment Plant and Mahalapye Treatment Plant are to benefit the two villages as well as Tswapong cluster of villages, while the ion exchange water treatment technology was used to supply water to villages in the outskirts of Shoshong, such as Mosolotshane, Moralane and Ikongwe.

In a project funded through the World Bank, 52 villages in the North East were connected to the Ntimbale Dam supply, while the Botswana Emergency Water Efficiency and Security Plan worked on the provision of water to Boteti Southern and Central cluster villages.

“Further north, the Maun Phase II Water Supply and Sanitation project was done in four phases, including the upgrading of water supply system and sanitation works, while the state of the art Kasane Water Treatment Plant, financed by the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism as part of the Kasane-Kazungula Development Plan, was to benefit the Chobe area.

On the Western side of the country, the drilling and rehabilitation of boreholes at Kuke, a pump station and the construction of a 110 km pipeline to Charleshill will improve water supply to villages in Ghanzi District.

Another project to supply Hukuntsi, Tshane, Lokgwabe and Lehututu in Kgalagadi North and develop a pipeline to Ncojane in Ghanzi South will also remedy the water shortfall.

Mr Senai says most of these projects are complete or awaiting commissioning and have led to the country’s water security situation drastically improving. A challenge that still remains is rusty internal pipelines in villages such as Kanye and Molepolole.

“We first had to address the issue of water supply, and we will attend to water distribution over the upcoming twelfth National Development Plan (NDP 12). In the interim we will look to conduct reinforcement works to try to alleviate the situation,” Mr Senai says.

Another concern for water authorities has been poor water metre reading and complaints from consumers about their bills.

“We have piloted the introduction of a smart pre-paid meter reading, piloted in Block 8, Gaborone on July 26. By March 2025, we plan to have installed 60 000 such metres in the Greater Gaborone area, then within three years, we intend to have installed 550 000 plot connections countrywide,” he guarantees.

Steadily, President Masisi’s commitment to the United Nations (UN) Water Conference in 2023 at the UN headquarters in New York, United States, to place provision of water and sanitation services at the forefront of the national development agenda and to achieve the sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG6), of ensuring access to sanitation and water for all, begins to fruition. Ends