Water-related problems in major populated areas of Botswana continue to grow
unabated. At the heart of these problems are escalating demands, dwindling water
supplies, deteriorating infrastructures and water losses. Several reports indicate that
water managers in this area have been engrossed more on increasing supplies and less
on demand management and conservation. The latest construction of the Dikgatlhong
Dam is an example of the measures taken to supplement the existing water sources.
However, much of the supplied water continues to be lost from the distribution
systems of some of the villages. The highest losses have been reported in the
Ramotswa village. This study surveyed the causes of the water losses and factors
affecting their developments and frequencies. The study’s view was that reducing
those losses would improve the system efficiency and save more water for supplies.
The data for the study was acquired from reports of earlier studies, field visits and oral
interviews administered on the water managers and consumers. Leakages from the
Boatle-Ramotswa supply pipeline, service pipes, reservoirs and valves, unmetered firefighting
consumptions and water theft were identified to be the main sources of the
losses. The utility’s loss control activities were inefficient due to the lack of measures
for identifying and reducing each individual loss. The study proposed that all the
different uses and losses into which the system input volume goes should be identified
and measured and measures for controlling each of them be designed and instituted.