MASERU — The Water and Sewerage Company (Wasco) yesterday launched a campaign to encourage people to conserve water.
Wasco public relations manager Khotso Letsatsi said the initiative was aimed at informing consumers, especially the residential ones, on the potential water conservation measures and their benefits.
Letsatsi was speaking during the launch of the company’s Awareness Raising Campaign at Water End-User Level.
He said the awareness campaign is also meant to reduce Wasco’s operational costs such as water pumping, treatment, and maintenance.
“We are encouraging the public to reduce their water bills by changing their usage behaviour.
“This enables them to save money,” he said.
He said a sample of low-flow fixtures that consumers can instal in their kitchens or on bathroom taps would be distributed to low-income consumers at pay points around Maseru.
The fixtures which will also be available on the market include saving nuts, shower heads, in-liner flow restrictors and aerators.
Consumers were also urged to save water by repairing water leaks on pipes and taps.
Letsatsi said many people have a tendency of not fixing leaking water pipes and this contributed to a lot of wastage.
An in-liner flow restrictor used for a shower is estimated to save about 20 percent of the water flow.
Letsatsi said with the ever-increasing demand for water and electricity, natural resource conservation remains a major concern in Lesotho.
“Sustaining ready access to drinking water has become a social, economic and political imperative,” he said.
The programme is implemented in 15 Wasco urban centres and covers all water and sewage pump stations, including some electricity installations.
It is built upon the results of energy audits completed at WASCO facilities that show a high potential for energy savings, thus contributing to reducing the cost of drinking water for the populations, particularly the poor.
