Elephants break into sewage facilities
WUC mulls using spikes as deterrent
Member of Parliament for Nata-Gweta Polson Majaga is worried sick about the deplorable state of sewage facilities and dumping sites in his constituency.
He took his concern to Parliament recently, asking the Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services, Kefentse Mzwinila to state the impact of poor sanitation facilities on the environment, livestock, and people, and the actions with timelines to remedy the situation.
In response, Minister Mzwinila acknowledged being aware of the state of the sewerage facilities in the Nata-Gweta Constituency. He said the sewerage facilities in Nata-Gweta Constituency, Sowa Township sewage ponds, and Gweta sewage ponds are operated by Water Utilities Corporation (WUC).
He said both facilities are operating to the required standard, but “the security fence for the two sewerage facilities has been vandalised by elephants, making it easy for cattle and wild animals to access the facilities.” This negatively impacts on the environment, cattle, and ultimately on people.
Mzwinila said the disposal of sewage in the Nata-Gweta constituency varies from village to village depending on the infrastructure development in an area, with most villages utilising WUC vacuum tanker services, while in Sowa Township plots are connected to the sewerage pipeline.
He said that some villages dispose of the sewage at Gweta sewage ponds, while in other villages the sewage is taken to Tutume Sewerage ponds using vacuum tankers.
According to Mzwinila, one vacuum tanker is available to service the constituency and in cases of a high volume of requests, a second one is often taken from either Tutume or Masunga Service Centre to alleviate the situation.
Mzwinila revealed that WUC has considered the installation of elephant spikes to deter elephants from the facilities.
The installation of a new security fence together with elephant spikes at the wastewater ponds was planned for the financial year 2021/22, however, “procurement for elephant spikes at both Sowa and Gweta ponds stalled because the budgeted funds were too low compared to financial bids submitted by service providers.”
He said WUC will consider implementing the project during the 2022/23 financial year subject to the approval of the budgets by the board.