SRWB faces challenges of high population growth, urbanization, and high-water losses in its water supply centers. The increase in socio economic-growth has resulted in extended settlements that need access to potable water and sanitation services to be provided by the Board. Thyolo Boma is among the areas facing huge challenges in the water supply. Supply to Thyolo Scheme is sourced from surface water from Nsuwazi River. The scheme has two intakes on the river namely Mpeni and Nsuwazi. The Nsuwazi intake (Picture 1) has not been operating for over five years now as the pumping main was cut off due to road works. The catchment area of Nsuwazi is degraded resulting in heavy siltation during rainy season which makes it impractical to rely on Nsuwazi River especially during this period. However, during the dry season, the river is considered capable of supplying the required demand for Thyolo. Being an old system, the Nsuwazi treatment plant (Picture 2) needs total rehabilitation work. Thyolo Scheme is currently supplied from Mpeni intake upstream of Nsuwazi Intake. The system has a conventional water treatment (Picture 3) which currently produces 1,014 m3/day while current demand is at 4,412m3/day. Future project demand for 2050 is 7, 681m3/day. At Mpeni, the efficiency of the pumps has deteriorated over the years to less than 50%, as a result, the Board is only able to provide water at a maximum of 10 hours per day which is less than the 18-hour minimum requirement. The Water Supply pipe distribution network at Thyolo has a total covered distance of about 60 Km. The pipeline network is not adequately covering all the supply area and the extended settlement around the municipality. The storage capacity of the existing water tanks totals 1446m3. The largest is located within Mpeni treatment plant (Picture 4) with a capacity of 1000m3 while the other is an elevated concrete tank with a capacity of 446m3 located within the trading centre. The storage capacity is inadequate to meet the storage requirement for the current demand. Frequent long power cuts also result in low production for the scheme. It is hence, crucial that the board finds an alternative source or backup energy source for its treatment works. In addition, the encroachment of the catchment area for the river which has encouraged runoff and siltation calls for a proper catchment management plan to be implemented.Read Less