Botswana To Source More Water From Neighboring Countries

Map of Botswana

Faced with a challenge of deteriorating water supply, landlocked Botswana has been forced to look at neighboring countries for water, officials announced Thursday.

Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Thatayaone Dedede told the media on the sidelines of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Water Week conference in Gaborone the unreliable water supply situation has led Botswana to intensify its trans-boundary water collaboration within the SADC area.

Xinhua reports:

Dedede said due to climate change, inadequate infrastructural development and poor conservation, there is need to supplement water provision in Botswana since demand outstrips supply Dedede quoted as saying by Local radio Yarona Fm.

"Batswana are not conservationists, we don't know how to conserve and preserve water, it is a culture that still needs to be cultivated," he said.

Botswana currently shares water with other SADC countries in basins like, Limpopo, Okavango, Orange Senqu and Zambezi. The southern part of Botswana especially has in recent weeks been faced with severe water shortages with some areas next to the capital Gaborone going for days without water. The dire situation came as a result of the largest dam in the southern part of the country, the Gaborone Dam drying up due to insufficient rainfall.

Water transport from dams in the northern part also has challenges as the pipes carrying the water often have to undergo routine maintenance and disturb the already restricted flow.

Molatedi Dam in South Africa has for the past years been supplying water to Gaborone to augment shortages.