Another giant water project is set to take off with the introduction of the Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme aimed at addressing the domestic, industrial and agricultural water needs of the lowland districts of Botha Bothe, Leribe, Berea, Maseru, Mafeteng, Mohale's Hoek and Quthing. Within the Scheme is the fast-tracked Metolong Dam Project, intended mainly to augment water supply to Maseru and the peri-urban areas around it. The Lowlands Water Supply Scheme Unit was established in April 2002 within the Department of Water Affairs of the Ministry of Natural Resources, to coordinate and expedite the implementation of the Scheme.

 INTRODUCTION 

A number of national studies have recommended that Government of Lesotho (GoL) give serious consideration to options for providing additional secure water supplies to the bulk of its people, who live in the western lowlands area.  In part, the high priority given the project is due to the burgeoning demand for water in Lesotho, and is heightened by the growing demands from towns and cities in the neighbouring Republic of South Africa (RSA), many of which rely on the same basic sources of bulk water.  It is expected that the European Union, through its development cooperation programmes with Lesotho, will be a major supporter of any future programme of action and investment in this field. 

To secure a potable water supply, the GoL has embarked on a project, the Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme (LLWSS) and a comprehensive feasibility study of water needs for domestic, industrial and agricultural use in the lowlands region of Lesotho. The GoL has secured resources needed to undertake the study from the European Commission. 

The Lowlands Water Supply Scheme Unit (LWSSU) has been established within the Department of Water Affairs in the Ministry of Natural Resources to coordinate and expedite the implementation of the LLWSS.  

The outcome of the study will provide the GoL with the opportunity to decide on the most suitable and appropriate infrastructure development option for securing future water supply schemes in the lowlands and to follow up with the implementation of the measures required. 

2.0       INSTITUTIONAL FRAME WORK 

The Lowlands Water Supply Scheme Unit was established within the Department of Water Affairs on the 1^stApril 2002 with the approval of Cabinet and formal engagement of the Chief Executive. Three additional Technical Officers were engaged later in the program. The four form the management team for the Unit. The Organogram of the Unit currently stands as follows:

SUPPORT STAFF

Personal Secretary                                Mrs. J. Nyapholi                       (Full time)

Office Driver                                        Mr. M. Mokhethi                     (Full time)

Stores Assistant                                    Ms. N. Rantja                          (Full time)

Office Assistant                                    Mrs. M. Libe                            (Full time)

Senior Accountant                                Mrs. M. Molapo                      (MNR)

Assistant Personal Secretary                 Mrs. A.K. Matia                      (MNR)

Accounts Assistant                               Mrs. E. M. Moketetsa (MNR)

Stores Assistant                                    Ms.   M. Lekhooa                    (MNR) 

2.1       RESOURCES 

• To date the unit is housed at Red Cross Building

2.2       PROJECT STEERING COMMITTEE 

To facilitate the smooth running of the project and also to offer technical backstopping; a Project Steering Committee was built into the operational modalities of the Study Contract. The proposed Committee comprises institutions within the Lesotho Water Sector; which are stakeholders in the project, as well as other beneficiary institutions. As the study progressed, there was need to co-opt other relevant member institutions as observers. The Steering Committee currently comprises the following Institutions: 

·        Department of Water Affairs

·        Department of Rural Water Supply

·        Water and Sewage Authority

·        Lesotho Highlands Water Commission and LHDA

·        Ministry Of Tourism, Culture and Environment – NES

·        Ministry Of Health And Social Welfare – Environmental Health Division

·        Ministry of Local Government – Directorate of Decentralisation

·        Ministry of Food Security – Department of Crops

·        Ministry of Forestry and Land Reclamation

·        Policy, Planning and Strategy Unit (MNR)

·        Lesotho Council of NGOs (Co-opted member) 

The Deputy Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Commissioner of Water attend Steering Committee sessions by virtue of their positions as members of the Ministerial Management Team. 

The study consultants sit with the Steering Committee quarterly to present quarterly-progress reports.  Apart from the quarterly- progress reports, the Steering Committee is responsible for the final review of all submitted reports and their subsequent approval. 

2.3.1 OTHER TECHNICAL BACKSTOPPING MECHANISMS 

Apart from the Steering Committee, the Lowlands Water Supply Scheme Unit gets technical support from a team of local Engineering Consultants, MAFUBE CONSULTING PTY LTD. The engagement of Mafube was part of an initiative to maximise the participation of Basotho in the initial stages of the project implementation. They were identified through a limited tendering process that involved local engineering consulting houses. 

The European Union has also accorded the LWSSU access to one of its Technical Advisors. 

2.4 BILATERAL COOPERATION WITH RSA 

Following discussions between the Hon. Minister of Natural Resources and his counterpart in the Republic of South Africa (RSA), the two countries agreed in principle to collaborate in the implementation of the Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme. This was done in view of the fact that the Terms of Reference for the Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme study included coverage of some neighbouring RSA towns. 

In order to facilitate this collaboration, a working forum was put in place for the necessary groundwork, the Interim Lowlands Water Supply Scheme Commission. The Interim Commission is made up of six permanent members, three from Lesotho and three from RSA. The Lesotho members are DPS-Ministry of Natural Resources, Commissioner of Water and Director-LWSSU. Other members are co-opted as and when need arises in terms of their area of specialisation. 

In its early stages, the interim Commission realised that the current Lesotho Feasibility Study had shortfalls in terms of addressing needs in RSA. It was then agreed that RSA would conduct an independent parallel Feasibility Study and the two studies will then be aligned at a later stage to result in a common implementation program.  It was further observed that there would be a need to carry out a wider Scoping Study that covers territory in both countries. The results of such a Scoping Study would then be used to gauge shortfalls within both parallel Feasibility Studies. Once identified and addressed, a joint implementation program for the envisaged project would commence. The two countries agreed that an individual country would finance the Feasibility Studies, whereas for the joint Scoping Study, there would be joint funding. 

A Technical Management Committee (TMC) – the operational arm of the Interim Commission was formed, comprising two members from each country. The responsibility of the TMC amongst others was to draft terms of reference for the Scoping Study. The terms of reference have been produced and the Interim Commission has to decide on a shortlist of reputable consultants to be invited to tender for the Scoping Study. 

3.0  FEASIBILITY STUDY PROGRESS TO DATE 

The Lesotho Lowlands Water Supply Scheme in general will address the needs of water in the lowlands districts of Maseru, Berea, Leribe, Botha-Bothe, Mafeteng, Mohales' Hoek and Quthing. Within the Scheme is the fast tracked Metolong Dam Project, intended mainly to augment water supply to Maseru. The project, funded by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) and co-funded by the GoL, will also investigate the possibilities of Hydropower Generation. The Metolong Study Contract was initially for a period of six months, but the consultants requested a two months extension, submitting their Draft Final Report in September. The wider Lesotho Lowlands Feasibility Study is funded under a grant from the European Development Fund. Half way through, the consultants submitted an Intermediate Report. 

3.1            SERVICE CONTRACT PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE 

The process of Request For Proposals (RFP) started in February 2002. Submission of proposals by the bidding firms and the opening of Technical Proposals took place on the 15^thMay, 2002. The following firms submitted their proposals: 

 A National Evaluation Team was established to undertake the evaluation process, which started on the 3^rd June, to 28^th June, 2002.  The National Evaluation Team comprised the following institutions: 

1. Water And Sewerage Authority
2. Lesotho Highlands Water Project
3. Government of Lesotho

The evaluation report was submitted to Ministry of Planning on the 5^thJuly, 2002.  Concurrently with the Ministry of Natural Resources Evaluation, the European Union (EU) also appointed an independent evaluator. The independent evaluator submitted his evaluation report of the technical proposals on the 2^nd August 2002. 

The Lowlands Water Supply Scheme Unit reconciled the two reports and prepared a Final Technical Evaluation Report, which was in turn submitted to the Ministry of Planning on the 23^rd September 2002. 

The financial proposal of the two pre-qualified firms: Parkman Ltd. – UK and GKW – Germany was opened on the 26^thSeptember, 2002.  The subsequent evaluation was done on the 27^th September 2002.  On the 9^th October 2002, the overall proposal (Financial and Technical) of Parkman (Ltd) – UK was approved by the Government of Lesotho and the European Union. A Service Contract to undertake the Feasibility Study for the scheme was signed on the 11^thDecember, 2002. 

The consultants started mobilisation work on the 6^thJanuary, 2003. The first Review Workshop in preparation for the Inception Report was held on the 31^st January 2003.  The preview of the Inception Report was submitted on the 7^th February 2003. 

Lowlands Water Supply Scheme technical staff and the consultants have weekly Project Meetings, an important component of the Study’s supervision mechanisms. It is in these meetings that operational problems are discussed and the consultants’ progress monitored. 

3.2 STUDY APPROACH AND MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE 

The first component of the study involved literature review and the aligning of the consultants’ Technical Proposal with reality on the ground. This analysis culminated in the submission of an Inception Report that was later endorsed by the Client, (Lowlands Water Supply Scheme Unit, on behalf of the PS- Ministry of Natural Resources). 

The study team went on to divide their work into the following areas, which studied specific components of the Study area: 

• Population and the Impact of HIV and AIDS (Demography)
• Water Demand
• Hydrology
• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Choice of Schemes

3.2.1        Summary of findings to Date 

Population and the Impact of HIV and AIDS 

The terms of reference had clearly indicated the major role that the impact of HIV and AIDS can have on future water demand projections; hence this had to be studied in detail as a limiting factor. The consultants had planned to use an Actuary Science-based HIV and AIDS Impact model (ASSA2000) developed at the University of Cape Town, but were not able to use this method due to non-availability of data from the Lesotho Bureau of Statistics. They however settled for the use of an alternative model called SPECTRUM from the USA. 

The results from the model highlighted what was already feared, revealing that by the year 2015, using high and low prevalence scenarios, there will be between 375 000 and 422 000 individuals infected with the HIV/AIDS. In terms of deaths, the model predicts that there will be about 650 000 AIDS related deaths in Lesotho by 2015, thus reducing demand for domestic water supplies. However, the study’s demographic team predicts that this decrease in general population will not necessarily decrease rural to urban migration. Therefore, it is still expected that there will still be increased water demand within urban centres. The Metolong feasibility study team also shares this analogy. 

One aspect that the study team are cautioning the Government of Lesotho about is the increase in the number of people who will require subsidised or free water as the HIV and AIDS prevalence is high in the productive age groups of 15-49 years. 

Water Demand  

In order to project water demands for the study area, the consultants first looked at the water consumption history of the area as well as the amount of water yielded by the existing systems. After determining the current water demand, this was correlated with the current population to come up with a per capita water usage. The next step involved the projection of future water usage based on a pre calculated population rate, determined from aerial photography, due to the inaccuracy of census data. For areas that did not have current water supply, the World Health Organization standard of 50litres per capita was used. The resulting figures were then corrected for water loss using a conservative percentage of 30% loss. For those areas that are intended for future industrial expansions, data was collected from the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC). LNDC provided estimated projected water demands for its industrial estates based on current water consumption per hectare. The complexity faced by the consultants in estimating industrial water demand will be highlighted later (section 3.4). 

The consultants went on to divide the study area into eight (8) demand zones. The zones and their subsequent projected water demands for the required time horizons of 2020 and 2035 are as follows:           

 * A zone depicts an Urban Centre and village clusters en-route, with a population of 2 500 and more.

 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

 EIA related activities have been restricted to the production of a Background Information Document (BID) that was distributed in June 2003. This document was intended to inform stakeholders about general environment related concerns usually associated with large dam schemes. It is intended that the wealth of knowledge that will be accrued as result of this publication will result in more meaningful participation by the nation during public consultation processes when specific and penultimate schemes have been selected for detailed study. 

Hydrology and Choice of Scheme 

These two entities were studied as stand alone components, but will here be dealt with concurrently as their joined inputs resulted in the preliminary choice of schemes. The consultants studied the hydrology of three catchments areas namely Mohokare Catchment, Makhaleng Catchment and the Senqu Catchment. After determining the potential yield of the riverine systems on these catchments, they set out to locate potential dam sites closest to the eight demand zones as pre determined. In each demand zone, 3-4 dam sites were identified. The intension was that later in the study, the process of elimination of these dam sites would remain with the optimum sites in terms of cost, environmental impacts and suitability of site in Geotechnical terms. Work is currently under way to home-down on the more attractive dam sites for further studies. 

In general the identified choices of schemes can be summarised as follows: 

1. Ngoajane Dam to supply Botha Bothe zone and possibly Hlotse – Maputsoe zone.
2. Hlotse or Maoamafubelu Dam to supply Botha-Bothe, Hlotse-Maputsoe and Teya-teyaneng –Mapoteng zones.
3. Mapoteng Dam to supply Hlotse-Maputsoe zone and Teya-teyaneng-Mapoteng zone, possibly Botha-Bothe zone and Maseru-Mazenod zone.
4. Supply of Northern areas from LHWP waters
5. Supply of Western Lowlands from Makhaleng River
6.  Senqu River to supply Quthing-Alwynskop zone

The consultants’ report shows that this summary has been developed from a total of fourteen potential water supply scheme combinations. The options are based on using water sources from Mohokare River, Makhaleng River, Senqu River, the transfer of water into the existing Mohale Dam and the use of Lesotho Highlands Project waters. Further investigations will be made on the potential of ground and surface water as sources of supply to the proposed systems. 

3.3 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 

As part of the Contract, the consultants have to transfer some skills to locals as part of a capacity building program. To this effect twelve candidates were nominated from the Water Sector Institutions in the country. They come from the following Institutions: 

Department of Water Affairs                             - 7 candidates

Department of Rural Water Supply                   - 1 candidate

Department of Energy                           - 3 candidates

Department of Meteorological Services - 1 candidate 

The study team’s training expert evaluated the CVs of all the candidates in order to come up with a practical training program for the candidates. The expert came up with a programme comprising the following courses: 

·        Water Resources Assessment Planning

·        Water Supply Management and Operations

·        Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts of Water Supply Schemes 

Apart from the formal structured training programme, the candidates are due for secondment with the study team group relevant to their field of expertise. One syndicate will be attached to the Environment and Social group, another to the Water Resources Assessment group, another to the Engineering and Planning group and yet another attached to the Data Management and GIS group. 

To date, two training sessions have taken place: the first in Hydrology and the other, in Integrated Environment Management. There are also plans for some training in Durban before the end of the year. A candidate from the Meteorological Services Department has already completed a two weeks attachment with the consultant’s offices in Pretoria. For the month of October, the syndicate for Environment and Social issues is jointly undertaking an Environment Scoping Exercises for all potential Dam sites with the consultant. 

3.4 INTERMEDIATE REPORT REVIEW MEETING 

 A report review meeting was held where the consultants presented to the project Steering Committee and other stakeholders, findings to date. Here the stakeholders were expected to present their comments to the consultant regarding the report under review. At this meeting the consultant made presentations on Demographics, Hydrology, Various Schemes Options and the Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) process. Following the discussion of the consolidated comments from the stakeholders as well as those that came out during the meeting, further communication will be made with the consultant to fine tune the report and to respond to specific queries. 

3.4.1 ISSUES OF CONCERN RAISED BY CONSULTANTS 

A.           One of the options identified by the consultants involves the use of Lesotho Highlands Water Project resources, administered under a Treaty jointly signed by the Governments of Lesotho and the Republic of South Africa. This matter needs careful consideration by the Government of Lesotho as it entails re-negotiation of the Treaty and subsequent re aligning of royalties from the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). In the light of a dire need to supply water to the industrial nodes of Botha-Bothe, Maputsoe, Maseru and Mohale’s Hoek to meet the requirements of industrial developments, the consultants identified LHWP water as the quickest solution to this problem. 

B.           The consultants have expressed a concern regarding the ever-changing industrial water demands as projected by the LNDC. This state of affairs makes it difficult for them to optimise the sizes of reservoirs required per demand node. Several changes have already been made; but this at a cost to the Study’s implementation schedule. The consultants have requested major role players in the Water Sector to come to an agreement on what will be the demanded designs. To this effect, the consultants suggested the holding of a workshop at which the private sector will also be invited so that potential project funding partners can be identified. 

C.           The process of eliminating the identified options is going to involve the use of a Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) model. This model involves the use of weighting factor to all potential project-limiting factors. The weight given to each component has to be agreed upon by the stakeholders and NOT the consultants.

4.0 WAY FORWARD 

The consultants have indicated in their Intermediate Report that further investigations are still needed before they can come up with the penultimate schemes for the Lowlands Water Supply Scheme. Work in the next months will involve more detailed technical, hydrological, economic and socio-environmental analyses of the “short listed” options.

Progress Summary

10 March 2004