Botswana’s president has called on the public to manage water resources carefully as the country continues to face significant water challenges.

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama said recurring drought was challenging the government’s efforts to maintain water supply security.

To address this challenge, he explained that the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) had introduced water restrictions and rationing in order to reduce water demand.

“While we remain on target towards achieving near universal access by 2016, we appreciate the fact that, being a semi-arid country, water shall continue to be a relatively scarce and therefore precious resource,” he added.

Khama noted that government had a budget of P470 million Botswana Pula (about R560 million) for drought mitigation projects, including the upgrading and refurbishment of boreholes and the expansion of treatment plant capacity. So far, he said P338 million (about R402 million) worth of projects were at various stages of implementation.

According to Khama the government is also working on associated infrastructure for supplying water from the newly built Dikgatlhong, Lotsane and Thune dams.

Earlier this year, he said a 75 km water pipeline from Dikgatlhong Dam to Moralane was completed at a cost of P1.3 billion, whilst the North South Carrier 2 pipeline to Palapye was still under construction.

Water projects in the pipeline

The Botswana government also continued to prioritise trans-boundary cooperation under the auspices of the SADC Protocol on shared watercourses, where its efforts continued to bear fruit. Khama added that that the Middlepits cluster villages project for the transfer of potable water from South Africa had also been completed.

A feasibility study of the Lesotho Highlands project should also be completed next year, which would potentially allow the three countries participating in the project, namely; Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa, to take the project forward.

According to Khama the Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM), which was launched in July 2014, was currently home to all the dams that the country relies on for water supply.

For that reason, he said having LIMCOM as a functional platform to discuss and agree on management and utilisation of the Limpopo basin was critical. The Botswana government remained committed to ultimately drawing about 495 Million Cubic Metres of water per annum from the Chobe/Zambezi River system.

This share of water, he said would initially be used for the planned Zambezi Integrated Agro-Commercial Development Project at Pandamatenga. This resource, was expected to play a key role in meeting the post 2025 demand in the longer term, he concluded.