The rain season has come and gone. And all indications are that while the north of the country received rains that were by far above average, the same cannot be said about the southern parts.
Where rains were substantial, they were not a kind that is necessary to fill up the dams such as the Gaborone Dam which had reached such low levels that the nation had already started to worry.
As winter season sets in, it is a beginning of a long spell during which we can expect water consumption over many months without the dams filling or replenish.
In essence for Gaborone Dam it effectively means the dry season crossing into a second consecutive year.
Given the red flag that was shown to the nation about Gaborone Dam last year, it effectively means that we are headed for an even bigger trouble.
Experts have in various platforms warned that when it comes to water shortages in Botswana, the problem is too fold: infrastructure and supply.
While nature to a degree places limits on the supply, it is on infrastructure that we have a greater leeway and more room to manoeuvre ÔÇô within the confines of costs and affordability of course.
There is growing evidence of underinvestment over the years. And it has caught up with us, at a time when time is not on our side as a nation.
While enormous resources were built, especially in the northern country, it is not easy to transport water there captured to the south, where there are fewer dams, a situation made all the worse by a disproportionately high demand of water in the south.
For many years it was known within the planning circles that sooner or later there will have to be construction of a second water pipe linking the North to the South because the old pipe could no longer cope with demanding that has been growing non-stop for close to twenty years.
It remains a mystery why it has not been built.
And worse some of the dams built in the north are still to be linked to national infrastructure grid that takes water to where it is most needed.
There is not much that Water Utilities Corporation can do in the short span of time between now and the summer when water demand will once again substantially rise, made all the worse by high evaporation levels on account temperature and blowing winds.
But what WUC can genuinely do is to share with the public information on the scale of the problem.
This has to be done sincerely, honestly and above all modestly.
Information so shared will not only help in making the public to understand the scale of the problem, but more importantly to willingly be a part of the solutions.
