Hydraulic ram pumps and Sling Pumps

gardening, car washing, swimming pools and even construction work. The only three institutions intown in possession of their own boreholes were the B.M.C. (Botswana Meat Commission), theZimbabwe Railways (now Botswana Railways) and the Town Council. However all boreholes raisedwater that was considered not fit for human consumption. The Council borehole was linked to anirrigation system for the lawn in the stadium. Since the groundwater in Lobatse was not included inthe restrictions, the Council was also allowed to irrigate the stadium lawn. This was very fortunatesince the development of the stadium lawn and the maintenance of it until then had already cost alot of money.The major problems for the Town Council, however, were schools and clinics. At four primaryschools, two clinics and one day care centre vegetable gardens were drying out. Traditionally, thediet of Botswana is carbohydrate-and protein-based. An extensive government programme madevegetable growing a compulsory educational subject for all primary schools. At the local clinicswhere special care is taken of children and their mothers, vegetables are grown and cooking isdemonstrated. The big question was how all these activities could be maintained without sufficientwater. Also, at the same time, hundreds of newly planted trees had to be watered. The Councilowned two water trucks and after the stadium borehole had been provided with a standpipe,watering of trees was carried out with water trucks (bowzers). The schools and clinics were providedwith old drums which had to be filled up once a day. The watering of trees worked because theywere big enough to withstand short interruptions of the water supply without serious consequences.The supply for the four schools, two clinics and the day care centre was not satisfactory. Abreakdown of a tractor could result in considerable problems. Since the borehole had to supply thestadium irrigation system and to fill all the bowzers, special arrangements for the staff had to bemade. The first groups started working at 4 a.m. and bowzers were still on the road at 7 p.m. Thebottleneck was the temporary storage of water in drums at the public buildings. The investment indrums became substantial since they were often stolen and had to be replaced. There was anobvious demand for better storage.This resulted in the development of the dual system as it was then called. The dual system meantthat rainwater reservoirs were built at the public buildings and always kept half filled with boreholewater. When it rained the reservoirs filled up with rainwater, and when they became empty they werefilled with two or four bowzerloads, depending on their size, and this could be timed properly. Early in1986, all primary schools, the day care centre and the clinics were equipped with reservoirs andcatchment systems. In addition a newly built community centre was equipped with a 59-m3reservoir. Within three years and with only limited funds, an overall storage capacity of about 437 m³was achieved (see Table 1).Sizes of the reservoirs constructed differ due to the layout of the schools and the catchmentpossibilities. Only the Woodhall Community Centre, which was built in 1985, was designedaccording to the catchment needs.Although tight water restrictions were lifted in 1985, the system remained in use unchanged. Thereason was the tariff policy of the Water Utilities Corporation. Water in Lobatse is sold for a higherprice than in other towns because the supply is very expensive.6