Emergency Water Security and Efficiency Project

The development objective of the Emergency Water Security and Efficiency Project for Botswana is to improve availability of water supply in drought vulnerable areas, increase the efficiency of water utilities corporation (WUC), and strengthen wastewater management in selected systems. The project comprises of three components. The first component, improve availability of water supply and efficiency of services will support immediate and medium term investments and measures to mitigate the impact of the drought by improving availability of water in settlements that have experienced extended periods of rationing and or been forced to rely on water bowsers. The second component, improve wastewater and sludge management will support strategic investments in refurbishment and rehabilitation of wastewater treatment facilities, to protect surface and groundwater sources, and enable scaling up wastewater reclamation and reuse in Francistown and Lobatse through design and build contracts. The third component, sector reform and institutional strengthening will support reforms initiated under water sector reform program (WSRP) in 2009 by strengthening the institutional, policy, and legal framework as a means to improving long-term water security and increased efficiency of services. It consists of following sub-components: (i) sector reform; (ii) institutional strengthening and capacity building; (iii) forward planning - technical assistance and studies; and (iv) project management.