Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) has warned its customers that it will increase water rationing days in the Greater Gaborone area from three to four days a week from August, 1, 2015. The corporation said this comes as a result of fast receding level of the Bokaa Dam, which is currently at 3.5% and might fail at any time.

“The failure of Bokaa Dam will translate into reduced supply as well as a loss of one more source of water for the Greater Gaborone area, following the failure of the Gaborone Dam in December 2014.”

The greater Gaborone area’s sources of water are the Bokaa Dam, Molatedi Dam and the North South Carrier Scheme 1 (NSC1) with the Bokaa Dam currently producing 19million litres a day, the North South Carrier Scheme 1, 60 million litres a day and Molatedi Dam 9.7 million litres a day.

“The Water Utilities Corporation remains committed to ensuring the availability of water for all and is currently embarking on several projects to improve water supply in the Greater Gaborone area as well as the rest of the country,” said WUC.

“The Masama Wellfields project which will augment water to the Greater Gaborone area is currently being tested and when fully functional it will inject 30million litres into the NSC1 a day to water the Greater Gaborone area.”

WUC added that since the introduction of the three days a week rationing programme in August 2014, it has been able to manage the area with a supply of 110million litres a day. As the drought situation in the country continues to deepen affecting water supply as the water sources continue to dry up, WUC’s supply has also gradually reduced over the months making it necessary to introduce initiatives that will ensure the little available water is shared equitably.