Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) may in future well be regulated, should government approve the proposed review of water regulation that the department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is currently developing.
The process to review is currently at consultation stage and covers the boreholes, aquatic weeds control, water utilities corporation and the waterworks acts.
In an interview on the sidelines of their consultation meeting with the Maun leadership this week, DWS’ chief water engineer, David Molefha revealed that as they review, they hope to streamline and consolidate some and eventually come up with three acts – being the water framework act, water utilities corporation act and the water and sanitation regulatory authority act.
The Water Utilities Corporation act according to Molefha, will do away with the clause that allows WUC to self-regulate, and create an authority that will take all the regulatory powers for all the water sectors.
The water and sanitation regulatory authority act on the other hand, will result in the establishment of an organisation that will regulate water and sanitation services in Botswana.
“In the current acts there are gaps and bottlenecks, there is where they overlap, so we are trying to remove those,” he stated.
He indicated that the main aim of reviewing these acts is to facilitate improved livelihoods for locals and that of doing business in the country, this as businesses are driven by water. On issues of sanitation, the intention is to protect the environment and ensure that the entire sanitation generated in the country is treated to certain standards and discharged into the environment at permissible ones.
“The other issue is to ensure that those who are based where there is no sewerage network are also regulated accordingly, to ensure that they do not contaminate underground water. This is because almost 60% of water supplied in Botswana comes from the ground water so if we pollute it, we reduce our source water that we depend on.”
The changes according to Molefha will also see those providing drilling services being regulated to ensure that they are registered accordingly. This he said follows numerous cases they are working on with the Consumer and Competition Authority (CCA) where consumers cry foul over the poor service they receive from some of these providers.
“So the reviews will ensure that both customer and the companies are protected and will bring fairness. The service provided should be of high standard in terms of quality and and durability because Batswana drills these boreholes with the intention to tap into government programs such as Thuo-Letlotlo and Temo Letlotlo so they should not be disadvantaged by poor service” he emphasized.
