In a mitigating effort to address water shortages in Mahikeng, The North West Province Premier, Supra Mahumapelo in partnership with the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Mahikeng Local Municipality, have launched the Mahikeng Bulk Water Supply Augmentation Project.

The launch follows a series of regular water shortages that have been experienced in Mahikeng. These water shortages, it is believed, attributed partly to the collapse in yield of the Grootfontein dolomitic compartment, which traditionally supplied a substantial portion of the town’s bulk water supply.

The project involves the upgrading of the bulk potable water supply capacity to Mahikeng to facilitate current and future demand.

In his address at the launch of the project, Mahumapelo urged communities to continue using water sparingly and mostly, to guard against vandalism and stealing of the provided water infrastructure.

“Through the launch of this project, we are showing our commitment to provide clean water to the entire community of Mahikeng. We would like you to guard against vandalism of water infrastructure and use water wisely,” said Mahumapelo.

The project will see the Mahikeng Water Treatment Plant’s capacity to release clean water to communities residing in Mahikeng being increased from the current figure of 20 million litres to 30 million litres per day by November 2016.

The project will be completed in phases and will also include the construction of a 25 mega-litre reservoir at the existing Lokaleng pump station site. It will also involve the construction of approximately 11 km of gravity pipelines from the new Lokaleng reservoir to directly serve certain parts of Mahikeng.

The project is to be funded by the Department of Water and Sanitation through its Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant (RBIG) with the first phase of the project earmarked to be totally completed by November 2014 while the second phase will be started in 2016 and implemented by Sedibeng Water.