Understanding Molepolole water crisis

Lasting solution in connecting village on NSC

For decades, the residents of Botswana’s most populated village - Molepolole - have been hard done by lack of potable water caused by numerous factors ranging from an underneath dolomite rock , the terrain, over pumped boreholes and a total of nine boreholes yielding way less than the demand, Writes

The Central Statistic Organisation ( CS0) population projections indicate that Molepolole has a population of 80 231. The water demand for the village grows by the day and the quantity of water presently available accounts for only 69 percent of the actual demand of the present population.

Water supply deficiency is further compounded by loss of water in the water supply system which is about 35 percent of the water produced.

Since the establishment of the village to date, it has been purely dependent of well- fields to meet its water demands. The supplying authority mitigated that by over- pumping the boreholes when instead the solution was to overhaul the entire system. The Water Utilities Corporation ( WUC) and its parent Ministry of Land Management Water and Sanitation Services ( MLMWS) is only now doing this through the National Water Master Plan ( NWMP). Molepolole and the surrounding villages is currently reliant on different well- fields such as Suping, Gaotlhobogwe and lately Malwelwe.

In an interview WUC General Manager for Molepolole Service Station, Edwin Ndlovu explained that originally the village benefited from Suping well field until 1995, and in 1999, Gaotlhobogwe borehole was connected.

However, water from Gaothobogwe had calcium carbonate and needed treating first hence the delay in connection. But, overtime there was decline of water as the well- field was pumped for longer hours than necessary exceeding the limits and leading to reduced yield.

Towards the end of 2015, six additional boreholes from Malwelwe were connected to augment the supply. All well- fields were yielding 5.7 Ml/ day, but currently the demand is 13 Ml/ day while the output is nine. WUC came up with bowsing water, and 100 Jojo tanks were placed strategically within Molepolole to assist. In this project WUC used a total of five bowser trucks including one donated by KBL whose supply is mainly dedicated to Scottish Livingstone Hospital, as well as Kopong and Hatsalatadi villages and nine schools including the Institute of Health Sciences.

Ndlovu explained that given the terrain of the village and plot allocations that have expanded to areas of high altitude from the existing service reservoirs, they have operational deficiency emanating from alterations made to the network to cater for required network expansion and ever- growing water demand. Further, that small diameter pipes are a large cause of the existing network supplying significant number of water connections especially in the old part of the village. Over and above that, most of the pipes run on the surface and are therefore exposed to natural damages, as well as vandalism.

He said the quantity of water presently available accounts for only 69 percent of the actual demand of the present population and water supply deficient is further compounded by loss of water in the water supply system which is about 35 percent of the water produced. The leakage prone areas include southern part of Lekgwapheng, Ntloedibe, southern part of GooThato, Mokgalo, and Morwa wards, which contribute to water shortage in this area. Further, several wards in turn do not get their adequate water supply due to supply limitations notably in Lekgwapheng, Ntloedibe, Lepaleng, GaRanta and Borakalalo wards.

Ndlovu says Molepolole also lies “on a dolomite rock which has a lot of fractures through which water from leakages escape, this often leads to difficulties in promptly identifying and rectifying some of the leakages”.

The leakage identification is made complex by the existence of natural springs. There are areas where water supply improvements were made through interconnections and replacement of blocked pipes, however there still remains a few wards that are not getting any water, including, Mathalerwa, Senyedimane, Difethamolelo, Kgosing, Phalane, Morwa, Mokgalo and Kutlwano wards mainly due to network infrastructure limitations. Ndlovu explained that among challenges they have is network limitations where there are no network reticulation. Areas with no water supply network includes, Motswasele, GaRanta, Lekgwapheng, Dithejwane and parts of Boswelakoko and Magokotswane wards. Limitation also exists in many parts of the village, where sizes of pipes available are either “inadequate or oversized and therefore the flow of water through pipes with smaller diameter than 50 mm increases pressures upstream leading to frequent bursts”. He lamented that due to the terrain in Molepolole, as well as the alluded water supply deficit; most of high lying areas are subjected to low pressures, while the low lying areas experience a lot of bursts due to high pressures. Ndlovu said pipe blockages are also common within the old distribution networks, particularly in smaller diameter pipes. This is caused by accumulations of calcium carbonate deposits overtime.

Such blocked pipes often require replacement. He said that the current storage capacity available in Molepolole is about 42 percent which translates to 5500 cubic litres versus a demand of 13000 ml of the present requirement.

“Therefore due to a limited supply combined with a limited storage, ration is adopted for equitable supply, thus resulting in intermittent supply to most wards”. Ndlovu stated that primarily bringing bulk water to Molepolole including the construction of a 20 Ml reservoir will ensure that provision is adequate to cater for existing water demand up to 2042. Molepolole is going to benefit through a separate project known as Molepole Water and Sanitation Network Rehabilitation.