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WATER COOPERATION, SUSTAINABILITY AND POVERTY ERADICATIONImage: Claudia Uribe/Photodisc/Getty ImagesThe Okavango Delta Ramsar Site in Botswana is being protected from the risk of pollutionOpen and inclusive discussions arranged by GWP Botswana aspart of the two projects allowed these different parties to voice theirconcerns and explore ways of keeping the risk of pollution to aminimum. Representatives of the tourist industry, for example,explained that their difficulties in dealing with liquid waste lay inoperating in remote areas, the plethora of different institutions theyhad to deal with and unfamiliarity with some of the technical issuesin treating liquid waste.The outcome of the discussions was agreement that it wouldbe useful to produce a set of guidelines for managing liquid wastein the Okavango Delta Ramsar Site. Following up on this, theIntegrated Water Resource Management-Water Efficiency Project,GWP Botswana and Biokavango Project approached the North WestDistrict Council, Department of Water Affairs and the Departmentof Waste Management and Pollution Control with a proposal todevelop such a set of guidelines. The guidelines would be a steptowards safeguarding water quality and the environment by minimizingcontamination from inadequately treated sewage and otherliquid waste.A Botswana consultancy Ecosurv was tasked with developing theguidelines. In drawing up the guidelines, the consultants ensuredthey conformed to national standards and international obligations.The Okavango Delta Management Plan Waste Management Strategyand a 2008 Biokavango Project Report assessing liquid wastesystems in tourism establishments and transport, and handling andstorage of hazardous substances in the Okavango Delta, provideda solid foundation for Ecosurv to develop recommendations forthe guidelines. The guidelines considered the main ecotypes inthe Okavango – as different eco-environments needdifferent approaches to wastewater treatment – andrecommended that requirements for managing liquidwaste should become stricter from dry land to wetland.In open fresh water and perennial swamps, there shouldbe no discharge of liquid waste at all.The guidelines also took account of the enormousvariation in the amounts of liquid waste produced andtreated, ranging from large volumes by council wastewatertreatment plants, schools, hospitals, commerceand hotels, to small volumes by lodges and camps, campsites, mobile operators, rural communities and privatehomes. The different set ups vary in the volume of wastethey generate and each requires different guidelines.The guidelines considered site conditions, expectedwastewater generation rates, desirable effluent quality,construction costs and maintenance requirements –everything from selecting sites for treatment plantsto developing, operating and decommissioning them.Sophisticated liquid waste treatment facilities wouldneed to be serviced and maintained by skilled staff andwould create difficulties in small isolated communities.In these cases, low-maintenance septic tank soak-awaysystems could be more reliable. Powered sludge systemswould not be suitable for off-grid areas or where solarelectricity would be too costly to install.As well as the need to manage liquid waste, thereis a need to manage the storage and movement of[ 200 ]