The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), together with the Ngaka Modiri District Municipality and Sedibeng Water Board will roll out a R70 million bulk water supply project.

This project aims to address the lack of water supply in the Setlagole area, under the Ratlou Local Municipality.

The roll out of the project, which is scheduled for completion in December 2016, will see the entire Setlagole community and adjacent villages benefiting from the scheme. Currently, some of the households are located beyond the 200 meter walking distance from the nearest communal standpipe.

This means that some households are still serviced below the basic service level of water supply. The new project will bridge this gap. Historically the area of Setlagole has experienced water shortages and to an extent relies on ground water sources in the form of boreholes.

The challenge experienced by the communities with this sort of supply is that some boreholes have very low yields of less than 0.5 litres per second.

The project will ensure reliable bulk water supply, bulk storage and tie up with the internal reticulation to be implemented by Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality.

The DWS’ Construction Unit is on site, constructing the 5.5 Mega litre reservoir which is 15% completed to date.

Once the project is completed, water supply will increase to 30 litres per person per day which is above the basic standard.

An amount of R12 million is reserved for internal reticulation and communal standpipes in the Setlagole area.

Areas which will benefit from Phase 1a of the project under the Setlagole cluster include Nottingham, Pappiesvlakte, Setlagole, Setlhwatlhwe, Sweipa and Thutlwane.

The new reservoir is being constructed at the existing small reservoir site in Thutlwane.