This response was prompted by an article, “The rich blocking water flow in Gaborone dam” (Sunday Standard January 19-25, page 3) which refers to a study by Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) and University of Botswana Faculty of Engineering, saying that the ‘damming has disrupted the flow into Gaborone dam, resulting in unprecedented low levels which has forced the corporation to start rationing water’. It is mentioned in the article that there are about 200 illegal dams along Notwane River and other mainstreams blocking the flow of water in to Gaborone dam.
Also WUC Infrastructure Director, Gaselemongwe Senai, is reported to have said “the study has shown that 30 % of water that used to flow into the dam no longer feeds the dam because of the 200 dams built in the catchment area.” One wonders, if the 200 dams only take 30% of what used to flow in to the dam, what happens to the 70 %? Do you mean to tell us that 70% is so low that it does not make any significant change in the dam level?!
As I have not seen and read the study itself (WUC has no intention of making it public) I will make do with the little that the Sunday Standard newspaper article has revealed to be the basis of my discussion. What concerns me, as usual, is the approach taken in public debates of being quick to find someone to blame when we are supposed to solve serious or life and death issues like water shortage. In this case we want to blame the “rich farmers”, who ‘are believed to be connected to powerful political interests’ to the extent of even suggesting demolition of the dams! Is that really the solution? What is the problem with Gaborone dam? Is it really the 200 dams? I will attempt to provide my humble view on the issue as I honestly believe after consulting the literature about Gaborone dam that I have access to, that the problem of water shortage has little to do with the 200 dams referred to in the article.
Let’s first deal with the assertion that Gaborone dam has reached ‘unprecedented low levels’ as the newspaper story would want us to believe, by borrowing from Sandy Grant’s article “A Preliminary Chronology of Modern Gaborone” appearing in Botswana Notes and Records Volume 38, 2006 where he tells us that in 1983 “The level of the dam was so low that water could no longer be pumped out of it. Its level was recorded as being zero %.” But as at 21 January, 2014 Gaborone dam water level was 11.4 % as per WUC website (http://www.wuc.bw/wuc-content.php?cid=109). It is not clear whether it is the journalist or the study that say the dam has reached “unprecedented low levels” but whoever it is, is not telling the truth.
Could it be that the location of Gaborone dam and by extension the decision on the capital of independent Botswana ignored information available at the time which seems to have been correct? As such we are now grappling with the shortage of water in Gaborone as a result of ignoring local or indigenous knowledge in our planning process. In support of my point I refer to the book by Sir Peter Fawcus (former Resident Commissioner and later Queens Commissioner of Bechuanaland) and Alan Tilbury (Botswana’s first Attorney General) titled “BOTSWANA, THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE”which mentions something about the location of Gaborone dam.
In a chapter “Building a new Capital” they state: “While the new town was still being developed, work had already started on the measures needed to build the new dam across Ngotwane river. One of Murray-Hudson’s (as Capital Project Coordinator) first tasks was to visit the farmer on whose land the dam was to be built. This farmer who, like many people in the country, viewed the unusual activities at Gaborone with some skepticism, found it difficult to believe that the irregularly flowing Ngotwane river, which was dry for most of the year, could ever support a dam big enough to supply the new town.” (page 176). It is worth knowing that, the new town that the farmer doubted if the damming of Notwane River could supply water to, was not envisaged to be as large as the current size of the still growing Gaborone with a population of 231 626.
And if Notwane River could not support Gaborone then how can it do so now with the city having developed to over twenty times greater than initially planned. Concerning the design and layout of Gaborone Fawcus and Tilbury notify us that “Both the professional staff of the Public Works Department and external consultants were both involved in the design of the new capital. They produced a plan for a first phase of township development capable of accommodating a population of 5,000, with scope for expansion to 20 000 as soon as required.” (Page 176).
Furthermore Fawcus and Tilbury record that: “As the time for the completion of the project and the move of governmental headquarters from Mafikeng grew closer, all eyes were on the dam. Would the summer rains come in time and would they be adequate? Thankfully they came on time and the dam not only filled completely but even overflowed. The water was there, buildings were ready, the move could begin” (p 177) To provide context, the capital of Bechuanaland was in Mafikeng and in preparation for independence it had to relocate to Botswana and as such a new town had to be built. And one of the challenges then was provision of water for the new town. ‘All eyes were on the dam’ then and they are still on the dam now! The location of the new capital to Gaborone was preceded by the debate in the Legislative Council in 1961 on where the new seat of government should be established between Gaborone and Francistown.
Rev. Dr Alfred Merriweather (then Speaker of Legislative Council and first Speaker of Botswana) in his autobiography “Desert Doctor Remembers” recalls the debate around where the capital of independent Botswana should be located. Dr. Merriweather says: “A few days after I was sworn in an important debate took place about where the capital for the new independent state should be located. There was deep division, the people from the north wanted Francistown as the site whereas the government officials and southern people preferred Gaborone. The members from the north had strong arguments for Francistown: the Shashi river could easily be dammed for a good water supply… I supported the government proposal that Gaborone should be the site of the capital.
My arguments were…and of great importance, the government water planners had shown that the Notwane River could be used for a large dam.” (page 187). Availability of enough water supply was among others one of the major arguments on where the new capital should be. Sometimes I am tempted to think given our rainfall patterns – that we have more rains in the north – and that big rivers (Shashe, Tati, Motloutse, Mahalapye, Thune, Ramokgwebana etc) are also in the north than south of the country, those who were involved in the debate of location of capital overlooked this aspect. But I also appreciate that Gaborone was never planned to grow beyond 20 000 people. That is why it always surprises me that people always complain that all the big dams are built in the Central District! They forget that all dams in the south Nnywane, Bokaa and Gaborone struggle to fill-up but those in the north (Ntimbale, Shashi, Letsibogo, and Motloutse) fill up easily.
When Gaborone dam dried up in 1983 its capacity was increased as Sandy Grant in “A Preliminary Chronology of Modern Gaborone” notes that in 1984 “the wall of the Gaborone dam was raised by eight metres increasing the capacity of the dam from 38 million cubic metres to 144 million metres. It also increased the maximum area of the reservoir from 7.5 to 19 square kilometres necessitating the realignment of the north-south road and railway at Kgale.” (p.188) Even though the dam capacity was increased, the irregularly following Notwane river’s capacity to feed the dam has not increased. For Gaborone dam to fill up we need heavy rains that cause flooding as it happened in 1966, 2000, 2006. Grant records that in 2000 ‘Heavy rains brought extensive flooding. The dam overflowed and the bridge between Gaborone and Tlokweng and the South African border was closed to traffic.” The long and short of my argument is that the doubts over Notwane River’s ability to supply Gaborone dam with water were raised even before the dam was constructed given its irregular flow. Water is a very strategic national resource and sometimes I wonder what will happen if Gaborone has no water to an extent of businesses closing down.
Investors will lose confidence in the city and to bring them back again will be a big challenge. Although I am not an expert in location of cities and dams, my layman’s mind tells me when the decision to establish a new capital was taken water supply was not thoroughly interrogated. That is why we need to continually devise ways of bringing water down south. We might even need to actively debate the advantages and disadvantages of relocating the capital to a place where there is abundant water supply. Because the rate at which the city is growing is going to continue bringing stress and pressure on water resources. *(The views expressed in the article are mine and not necessarily of those of government where I am employed)
