Clarens community holds on amid LHWP maintenance

By Emily Setona

CLARENS – Clarens is facing some challenges as the maintenance of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) continues. With dam levels critically low and ongoing infrastructure challenges, the town is relying on boreholes and river extraction to maintain supply.

However, recent pump failures and declining river levels have left residents uncertain about the weeks ahead.

Municipal authorities and community leaders are working together to monitor the situation closely and provide updates to residents.

The technical director of infrastructure for Dihlabeng municipality, Lungile Mokoteli, acknowledged the challenges but assured that efforts are being made to maintain stability. She said this during the DWS Minister Pemmy Majodina’s monitoring visit of the water treatment plant on February 1.

“Currently, we have a pump that burnt during the week, which is supplying water to the town lands from Little Caledon. So, it’s at the pump station which is at the Little Caledon; the pump burnt. We are currently pumping with one pump now, but because of the levels of the water at the Little Caledon River, we actually cannot pump with two pumps.

“We are organizing a rented pump as the municipality, that will be used as a backup pump. So, we are fine; we are still able to supply water. Our dam has water at 15 percent. We are augmenting with boreholes currently, and our reservoirs are daily above 90 percent.

“We engage with the community daily. We talk to them, and they issue statements or questions in their various groups, and we engage with them.”

Despite the municipality’s reassurances, local residents remain concerned about the town’s water security.

A community leader in Clarens, Gert Kruger, provided further insight into the situation.

“The current dam level is at 13.1%, which gives us about 13 days of water in the dam. This water is supplemented with extraction from the Klein Caledon River. At the moment, extraction is only happening with one of two pumps, and this is managing to keep the level of the dam at this stable level.

“The second pump, which would help to lift the level of the dam, has been damaged, and we have no indication whether or when this will happen. The level of the river, on which we are now dependent, continues to drop daily as rain has not been falling in the Golden Gate catchment area. However, anecdotally, we should be able to continue extraction from the river for at least another seven days. The borehole project, which was supposed to deliver 3ML/day to the town, is very far from reaching this target.

“One existing borehole (I don’t have exact details, but believe this was drilled in the nineties) is very strong and consistently delivers around 140kl/day, using Eskom power. The new boreholes, of which 12 are in production using solar power, jointly deliver about the same volume. So, in summary, we are primarily using water which is sourced from the river, roughly about 750kl/day. Another 250kl/day is coming from the boreholes. Water restrictions remain in place, and water is mostly switched off between 19:00 and 07:00 daily.”

The Department of Water and Sanitation, has helped navigate ongoing challenges.

For her part during an interview with The Guard, the minister of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) Pemmy Majodina said: “Water will be on and off if there’s maintenance work going on. We have supplemented the water supply with boreholes. The water treatment plant has been raised from one mega litre (which is one million litres) to four mega litres.

“At the end of this project all the people in Clarens will have water. In our communities the infrastructure we have wasn’t designed to take the capacity of growing populations, Clarens is a growing population, but we are addressing the issue of Clarens getting water.”

Dihlabeng executive mayor Tseki Tseki emphasized that people need to make contact with the municipality when they have problems.

“As the municipality we try to communicate with all residents of Clarens whether it is a group of individuals or one person. We communicate weekly with residents,” Tseki said.

Efforts are being made to stabilize supply, challenges with pump failures, borehole underperformance, and declining river levels pose significant risks.

With the LHWP tunnel expected to reopen at the end of March, the town is in a race against time to ensure water availability until then. For now, the community remains on high alert, carefully conserving every drop as they navigate the critical weeks ahead.