07 Aug 2024

Minister of Defence and Security, Honourable Kagiso Mmusi has told Parliament that Botswana Defence Force (BDF) camp in Maun uses a facility that biologically treats sewage.

Minister Mmusi said this in response to a question in Parliament on Monday.

He said the facility was installed and commissioned on April 14, 2017 by a Maun-based company and the facility bioreactor had the capacity to efficiently treat 20 cubic metres of waste water on a daily basis.

Minister Mmusi the effluent was tested regularly and had shown to meet the effluent standards of BOBS 93:2001.

“The effluent is used for irrigation in the camp and the waste water treatment plants, by their nature, have a smell which, however, is not objectionable,” he said.

He added that before the installation of the facility, sewage trucks used to empty the conservancy tanks and dispose into the Maun municipal wastewater treatment plant.

He said since the installation of the bioreactor, the camp had not experienced any sewage problem.

He explained that there were complaints from people residing next to the camp before the installation of the facility, adding however, that since such a development to address the deficiency of conservancy, neither the BDF nor the minister had received any complaints up to date.

“It must be noted the situation to address the offensive sewage smell that led to the installation of the bioreactor was a result of the consultative process with local communities around the camp,” he said.

Mr Mmusi the enhanced smell only occurred when the treatment facility experienced technical problems resulting in accumulation of sewage in the conservancy tank and in such instances, the BDF sewage trucks were used to empty the tanks.

He noted that the breakdowns of the bioreactor were a rare occurrence, as it was regularly monitored and maintained to ensure proper functioning and efficiency.

Maun East MP, Goretetse Kekgonegile had asked the minister to brief Parliament on the sewerage arrangements at the Maun BDF camp, particularly how the camp disposed sewerage and the engagement that took place with households adjacent to the BDF sewerage tank.

Mr Kekgonegile had also wanted the minister to explain how BDF dealt with extreme smell affecting households adjacent to the sewerage tanks. Ends