Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
is an arid country that is regularly afflicted by droughts. Large rivers flow only along its northern and southern borders, but they are far from the population centers. They are also far from the country's mines, which are large water users. In order to confront this challenge, the country has built dams to capture the flow from ephemeral rivers, constructed pipelines to transport water over large distances, pioneered potable
water reuse
Water reclamation (also called wastewater reuse, water reuse or water recycling) is the process of converting municipal wastewater (sewage) or industrial wastewater into water that can be reused for a variety of purposes. Types of reuse include: ...
in its capital
Windhoek
Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...
located in the central part of Namibia, and built Sub-Saharan Africa's first large seawater desalination plant to supply a uranium mine and the city of
Swakopmund
Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...
with water. A large scheme to bring water from the
Okavango River
The Okavango River (formerly spelled Okovango or Okovanggo), Also known as the Cubango River, is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for . It begins at an elevation of in ...
in the North to Windhoek, the Eastern National Water Carrier, was only partially completed during the 1980s.
Most urban residents have access to drinking water supply, but access lags behind in rural areas. Access to sanitation also considerably lags behind access to drinking water supply. The bulk water supply infrastructure is owned by
NamWater, a public entity operating under commercial principles. It sells water to the mining companies, as well as to the municipalities which in turn sell it to urban residents and businesses.
Water resources
![Namibia-1113](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Namibia-1113.jpg)
Namibia’s climate is hot and dry with erratic rainfall during two rainy seasons in summer. Within Africa its climate is second in aridity only to the Sahara. Namibia shares several large rivers, such as the
Orange River
The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: ''Oranjerivier'') is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of , the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north ...
in the South, shared with South Africa, as well as the
Zambezi
The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...
and
Okavango River
The Okavango River (formerly spelled Okovango or Okovanggo), Also known as the Cubango River, is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for . It begins at an elevation of in ...
s in the North, shared with Angola, Zambia and Botswana. But these rivers are far away from the population centers and the cost of tapping them for drinking water supply is prohibitive. Only the
Cunene River
The Cunene (Portuguese spelling) or Kunene (common Namibian spelling) is a river in Southern Africa. It flows from the Angola highlands south to the border with Namibia. It then flows west along the border until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It ...
, which is shared with Angola, provides drinking water for four Northern regions of Namibia. The total average "safe yield" of Namibia’s water resources is estimated at 660 million m
3/year, distributed as follows: groundwater 300 million m
3/year, ephemeral rivers 200 million m
3/year, perennial rivers 150 million m
3/year and unconventional sources such as treated wastewater 10 million m
3/year.
Groundwater
Groundwater is distributed unevenly over the territory of Namibia, thus making the construction of pipelines necessary to tap their potential. In particular, the coastal area is nearly devoid of groundwater. Recharge in these areas is low and unreliable, groundwater lies at great depths and sometimes is of poor quality. Other areas are favorable, sitting on high-yielding, very productive aquifers that contain more water than farmers and communities presently need. Numerous small springs throughout the country sustain wildlife, man and livestock. Over the past century, more than 100 000 boreholes have been drilled in Namibia. Half of these are still in operation. In 2012 hydro-geologists discovered a huge aquifer in Northern Namibia that could supply the area, where 40% of the population of the country lives, for 400 years. The aquifer, called
Ohangwena
Ohangwena is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Eenhana. Major settlements in the region are the towns Eenhana and Helao Nafidi aa well as the self-governed village of Okongo. , Ohangwena had 150,724 registered voters.
Oha ...
II, contains about 5 billion cubic meters of water which is up to 10,000 years old. The aquifer is about 300 meters deep and is under pressure, so that its water could be pumped up at a relatively low cost. However, a saline aquifer sits on top of the freshwater aquifer, so that drilling must be done carefully in order to avoid saline intrusion. The aquifer receives some recharge from Angola in the North. Experts recommend that, during normal climatic conditions, water abstraction should be limited to the inflow from the North in order to manage the aquifer on a sustainable basis. However, during extended droughts induced by climate change, the aquifer can be drawn down and serve as an important buffer against drought.
In some areas, groundwater is slightly saline (brackish). In the
Omusati
Omusati ( ng, Mopane, after the dominant tree in the area) is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Outapi. The towns of Okahao, Oshikuku and Ruacana as well as the self-governed village Tsandi are situated in this region. , Omus ...
Region in Northern Namibia, four small brackish water desalination plants were installed in 2010 as part of the German-Namibian research project CuveWaters. The plants are powered by solar energy and provide between 0.5 and 3.3 m
³ of safe drinking water per day, enough to satisfy the basic needs of between 10 and 66 people. At 15 Euro/m
3 the cost of desalinating brackish water in these small plants is very high.
Surface water
Many of the
ephemeral
Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...
(seasonally flowing) rivers of the Namibian interior are dammed and, according to the
FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
, provide a 95%-assured yield of 96 million m
3/year, based on historical rainfall data. These dams have low safe yields in comparison to their total volume, because of uneven flows over time and high evaporation losses. Thus only about half the water from ephemeral rivers is usable. There is surplus water in some dams, e.g. in the
Oanob Dam
Oanob Dam is a dam outside Rehoboth, Hardap Region, Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the ...
, the
Hardap Dam
Hardap Dam is a dam close to Mariental in the Hardap Region of central Namibia. Created in 1963 while Namibia was under South African occupation, Hardap Dam is the largest dam in the country. The reservoir dams the Fish River and is home to num ...
, the
Naute Dam
The Naute Dam is a dam outside of Keetmanshoop in the ǁKaras Region of Namibia. It was built by Concor between 1970 and 1972 and was officially commissioned in September 1972. It is the third largest dam in Namibia after Hardap Dam to Naute's ...
and the
Friedenau Dam
Friedenau Dam is a gravity concrete dam in Khomas Region, Namibia. Located southwest of Windhoek, it dams the Kuiseb River and provides water to nearby Matchless Mine. It has a capacity of and was completed in 1972, when the territory was occu ...
. This surplus water cannot be used because of the remote location of these dams and the comparatively limited local demand.
Namibia suffers from regular droughts, the most recent one hitting the country in 2019.
![Namibia 124](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Namibia_124.jpg)
The water from
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
(permanently flowing) rivers used in Namibia corresponds to the small share of Namibia in its border rivers. The actual abstractions as of 1999 (latest available data) were 23 million m
3 from the Cunene River at
Ruacana
Ruacana is a town in Omusati Region, northern Namibia and the district capital of the Ruacana Constituency, Ruacana electoral constituency. It is located on the border with Angola on the river Cunene River, Kunene. The town is known for the pictur ...
, 49 million m
3 from the Orange River at
Noordoewer
Noordoewer is a settlement in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. Its name means 'North Bank' in Afrikaans, in reference to the north bank of the Orange River, on which it is located. The village lies opposite the South African town of Viool ...
, 22 million m
3 from the Okavango River (that flows through Namibia in the Caprivi Strip) at
Rundu
Rundu is the capital and largest city of the Kavango-East Region in northern Namibia. It lies on the border with Angola on the banks of the Kavango River about above sea level. Rundu's population is growing rapidly. The 2001 census counted 36,9 ...
, and 7 million m
3 from the Zambezi River. Namibia has agreements in place with Angola and South Africa about the sharing of the Cunene and Orange Rivers respectively. The water allocation from the Cunene River is 180 million m
3 and thus far larger than the amount withdrawn.
Flood and rainwater harvesting
In Northern Namibia rain is relatively abundant, but it falls only during the rainy season, creating temporary natural ponds called Oshanas. At the height of the rainy season the water in these ponds is clear and of good quality. In a pilot project as part of the CuveWaters research program, in the remote village Lipopo in the Southern Oshana region water from an Oshana has been pumped to a storage tank to be used for the irrigation of vegetables during the dry season using a
drip irrigation
Drip irrigation or trickle irrigation is a type of micro-irrigation system that has the potential to save water and nutrients by allowing water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surface. ...
system. In addition, rainwater is being collected from the rooftop of a greenhouse and from the roofs covering the storage ponds. In another village, Epyeshona near
Oshakati
Oshakati is a town in northern Namibia. It is the regional capital of the Oshana Region and one of Namibia's largest places.
Oshakati was founded in July 1966 and proclaimed a town in 1992. The town was used as a base of operations by the S ...
, only rainwater is collected, both on an individual basis from the rooftops of houses, and on a communal basis from a concrete area on the ground constructed especially for
rainwater harvesting
Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir w ...
. In both cases the water is used for the irrigation of vegetables during the dry season, either in an open filed or in a communal greenhouse.
Seawater desalination
The first large
desalination
Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...
plant in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
was inaugurated by
Areva on the 16 April 2010. The Erongo plant is located near
Wlotzkasbaken, 30 km north of
Swakopmund
Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...
. Its maximum capacity is 20 million m
3 per year but it will initially supply 13 million m
3. Its primary purpose was to supply the uranium mine at
Trekkopje, located inland. The Trekkopje mine however never opened due to persistent low uranium prices, hence the plant has a contract to sell water to state-owned service provider Namwater and provides some of the water requirements for the town of Swakopmund. During the 2016 drought Areva offered to sell its plant to the Namibian government for $200 million USD.
Water reuse
Reuse of treated wastewater is practiced in Namibia in many urban areas such as
Swakopmund
Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...
,
Walvis Bay
Walvis Bay ( en, lit. Whale Bay; af, Walvisbaai; ger, Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies. It is the second largest city in Namibia and the largest coastal city in the country. The c ...
,
Tsumeb
, nickname =
, settlement_type = City
, motto = ''Glück Auf'' (German language, German for ''Good luck'')
, image_skyline = Welcome to tsumeb.jpg
, imagesize =
, image_caption ...
,
Otjiwarongo
Otjiwarongo ( hz, beautiful place) is a city of 28,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Otjiwarongo electoral constituency and also the capital of Otjozondjupa.
Otjiwarongo is situated in cen ...
,
Okahandja
Okahandja is a city of 24,100 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the ''Garden Town of Namibia''. It is located 70 km north of Windhoek on the ...
,
Mariental,
Oranjemund
Oranjemund (German for ''"Mouth of Orange"'') is a diamond mining town of 4,000 inhabitants situated in the ǁKaras Region of the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth at the border to South Africa.
Histo ...
and
Windhoek
Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...
. In most localities, water is reused for irrigation. In Windhoek,
reclaimed water
Water reclamation (also called wastewater reuse, water reuse or water recycling) is the process of converting municipal wastewater
Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produce ...
is also used for potable uses. Windhoek has been using recovered water for fifty years. Approximately 30% of the city's 400 000 residents' present drinking water supply is made up of reclaimed water. A representative example of direct potable reuse is the case of
Windhoek
Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...
(Namibia, New Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant (NGWRP)), where treated wastewater has been blended with drinking water for more than 45 years. It is based on the multiple treatment barriers concept (i.e. pre-ozonation, enhanced
coagulation
Coagulation, also known as clotting, is the process by which blood changes from a liquid to a gel, forming a blood clot. It potentially results in hemostasis, the cessation of blood loss from a damaged vessel, followed by repair. The mechanism o ...
/dissolved air flotation/rapid sand filtration, and subsequent
ozone
Ozone (), or trioxygen, is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , breaking down in the lo ...
, biological activated carbon/granular
activated carbon,
ultrafiltration
Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which forces such as pressure or concentration gradients lead to a separation through a semipermeable membrane. Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained in the ...
(UF), chlorination) to reduce associated risks and improve the water quality. Since the year 1968 the capital of Namibia, Windhoek, has used reclaimed wastewater as one of their drinking water sources, which nowadays represent about 14% of the city’s drinking water production.
In 2001, the New Goreangab Reclamation Plant (NGWRP) was built by the City of Windhoek and it started to deliver drinking water in 2002 (about 21,000 m
3 of water per day).
There is also a pilot project for small-scale reuse of treated wastewater in rural areas in
Outapi
Outapi wa Nakafingo na Temba, also Outapi or Uutapi and Ombalantu, is a town in northern Namibia near the border with Angola situated northwest of Oshakati. It is the capital of Omusati region and the district capital of the Outapi electoral co ...
in Northern Namibia as part of the CuveWaters research project. The wastewater of 1,500 people is collected in
vacuum sewer
A vacuum sewer or pneumatic sewer system is a method of transporting sewage from its source to a sewage treatment plant. It maintains a partial vacuum, with an air pressure below atmospheric pressure inside the pipe network and vacuum statio ...
s and treated in such a way that pathogens are removed, but nutrients remain to a large extent in the water. The technology is relatively sophisticated for a rural area in a developing country, using
upflow anaerobic sludge blanket digestion
Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) technology, normally referred to as UASB reactor, is a form of anaerobic digester that is used for wastewater treatment.
The UASB reactor is a methanogenic (methane-producing) digester that evolved from th ...
followed by aerobic treatment using a
rotating biological contactor
A rotating biological contactor or RBC is a biological fixed-film treatment process used in the secondary treatment of wastewater following primary treatment. The primary treatment process involves removal of grit, sand and coarse suspended mate ...
, a microsieve and
ultraviolet disinfection
Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is a disinfection method that uses short-wavelength ultraviolet (ultraviolet C or UV-C) light to kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unab ...
. The water is then used to irrigate vegetables for the local market. Community members have been trained in how to operate the facilities and a tariff and billing system has been introduced to recover the operating costs of the plant from users.
Water use and access
![Mandume Ndemufayo Street Ongwediva 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Mandume_Ndemufayo_Street_Ongwediva_2.jpg)
Total water use in Namibia was estimated at 300 million m
3 in 2000. The municipal sector including tourism and industry used 73 million m
3 (24 percent), while the bulk of water use is for agriculture and livestock. Only 13 million m
3 (4 percent) was used in mining at the time, although this amount has increased due to the development of mining – in particular uranium mining – after 2000.
Mining in Namibia
Mining is the biggest contributor to Namibia's economy in terms of revenue. It accounts for 25% of the country's income. Its contribution to the gross domestic product (10.4% in 2009, 8.5% in 2010, 9.5% in 2011, 12.3% in 2012, 13.2% in 2013, 11.6% ...
makes extensive use of water, which is used for a broad range of activities including in particular mineral processing, but also dust control,
slurry transport and the water use of employees. Uranium mining uses large quantities of water for processing using alkali
heap leaching
Heap leaching is an industrial mining process used to extract precious metals, copper, uranium, and other compounds from ore using a series of chemical reactions that absorb specific minerals and re-separate them after their division from other e ...
. For example, the
Trekkopje mine in the
Namib desert
The Namib ( ; pt, Namibe) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. The name is of Khoekhoegowab origin and means "vast place". According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namib ...
uses 14 million m
3/year of high-quality water that must be free of any salt. Saline water extracted through local wells is used for dust suppression, thus reducing the need for freshwater. Furthermore, some of the wastewater is treated and reused, thus further reducing water demand. Freshwater demand is met from the
Erongo Desalination Plant that also supplies neighboring communities. Since the lifetime of the plant (30 years) is longer than the expected lifetime of the mine (12 years), already when the plant was planned it was expected that it would be taken over by NamWater at the closure of the mine.
The
UN evaluated in 2011 that Namibia has improved its water access network significantly since
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
in 1990. Furthermore, in rural areas access is sometimes limited by the long distance between residences and water points.
As a result, many Namibians prefer the traditional wells over the available water points far away.
Water supply and water use in Windhoek
![Goreangab Damm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Goreangab_Damm.jpg)
Windhoek is provided with water from three different sources. As of 2006 17 Mio m
³ of the water demand was covered by dams around Windhoek, such as the
Von Bach Dam
The Von Bach Dam (originally the Sartorius von Bach Dam) is a rock-fill embankment dam on the Swakop River near Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. Built in 1968 and commissioned in 1970, the dam provides Namibia's capital of Windhoek ...
, 5.4 Mio m
³ from the Goreangab Reclamation Plant and only between 1 and 2 Mio m
³ still come from boreholes. The city estimates per capita
water consumption
A water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption by people. The water footprint of an individual, community, or business is defined as the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services consumed by th ...
at 200 liter per capita per day including industries, businesses and tourism, which is slightly higher than in Europe. An analysis of residential water consumption alone estimated it at 163 liter per capita per day in 2010, with significant differences between neighborhoods. For example, it was 306 liter in high-income neighborhoods in the South-East, while it was only 27 liters in informal settlements in the North. During the severe drought of 2015/16, water users in central Namibia were required to cut usage by up to 30 percent. In April 2016, the city of Windhoek launched a Zero Tolerance to Water Wastage policy, under which it would disconnect or fine on anyone using potable supply to water gardens or wash cars. The
Swakoppoort Dam,
Von Bach Dam
The Von Bach Dam (originally the Sartorius von Bach Dam) is a rock-fill embankment dam on the Swakop River near Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. Built in 1968 and commissioned in 1970, the dam provides Namibia's capital of Windhoek ...
and
Omatako Dam
Omatako Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam about north of Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is named after the Omatako Mountains, and it dams the ephemeral Omatako River, with ''Omatako'' meaning "butt" in Oshiwambo, the name ...
, which supply the region, were only filled at 11 percent of their capacity. In May, the Coca-Cola Namibia Bottling Company stopped production due to the severe
water shortages
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is wher ...
.
Responsibility for water supply and sanitation
The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry is in charge of water resources management, drinking water supply and sanitation in Namibia. Within the Ministry the Department for Water Resources Management and the Department for Rural Water and Sanitation Coordination are in charge of water supply and sanitation.
NamWater is a state-owned bulk water supplier that operates dams, pipelines and water treatment plants throughout the country. Created in 1997, it provides and sells water to mines, as well as to municipalities which in turn distribute and sell the water to households, businesses and offices in their respective service areas. In rural areas, the Directorate of Rural Water Supply of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry is in charge of water supply and sanitation.
Infrastructure
NamWater operates 16 dams, 14 water transmission lines (called "water supply networks") and 16 water treatment plants. The transmission lines are as follows:
History
![Goreangabdam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Goreangabdam.jpg)
In Windhoek, groundwater was almost the only source of water for until 1958 when a small surface reservoir, the
Goreangab Dam, was built downstream from Windhoek. A conventional water treatment plant was also constructed to treat the surface water from this reservoir. In 1960 the Gammams Wastewater Treatment Plant was commissioned near Goreangab Dam, discharging treated wastewater downstream of the reservoir. Subsequently, industrial and domestic effluents at the
wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment is a process used to remove contaminants from wastewater and convert it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once returned to the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on the environme ...
plant were separated. The plant treating the domestic wastewater was upgraded so that its effluent could be further treated in the existing water treatment plant.
The water treatment plant was also upgraded, so that it could further treat the treated wastewater in one train, alongside the existing train for the raw water from Goreangab Dam. Thus, the Goreangab Reclamation Plant was born in 1968. Its output was blended with water from the city's well field and was delivered as drinking water to the city's residents.
When the city grew further, the municipality started to receive water from the
Von Bach Dam
The Von Bach Dam (originally the Sartorius von Bach Dam) is a rock-fill embankment dam on the Swakop River near Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. Built in 1968 and commissioned in 1970, the dam provides Namibia's capital of Windhoek ...
170 km north of Windhoek commissioned in 1970. The 1974 Water Master Plan envisaged The Eastern National Water Carrier to supply water to Namibia's central area from the
Okavango River
The Okavango River (formerly spelled Okovango or Okovanggo), Also known as the Cubango River, is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for . It begins at an elevation of in ...
, some 750 kilometers to the north on the Angolan border. Construction of the carrier began in the late 1970s in several phases from South to North, first connecting the von Bach Dam to the newly built Omatako Dam further North over a distance of 94 km, and then connecting the Omataku Dam to Grootfontein over a distance of another 300 km. However, the next and last phase of the scheme connecting Grootfontein to the Okavango River near
Rundu
Rundu is the capital and largest city of the Kavango-East Region in northern Namibia. It lies on the border with Angola on the banks of the Kavango River about above sea level. Rundu's population is growing rapidly. The 2001 census counted 36,9 ...
was never built. The
Omatako Dam
Omatako Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam about north of Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is named after the Omatako Mountains, and it dams the ephemeral Omatako River, with ''Omatako'' meaning "butt" in Oshiwambo, the name ...
, completed in 1981, now only receives flood water and is empty most of the time.
In the 1990s, the city introduced progressive water pricing and educational programs that reduced consumption substantially. The daily per capita residential consumption decreased from 201 liters in 1990/91 to 117 liters in 1996/97, partly due to the introduction of a very high drought tariff. When the normal
water tariff A water tariff (often called ''water rate'' in the United States and Canada) is a price assigned to water supplied by a public utility through a piped network to its customers. The term is also often applied to wastewater tariffs. Water and wastewat ...
was put in place again in 1997/98, the consumption increased to 130 liters/person/day. Total per capita consumption including commerce and industry shows a reduction from 322 liters/capita/day in 1990/91 to 201 liters/capita/day in 1997/98. According to a study by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
(IUCN), water consumption was lowered in all sectors, which is a major achievement because the reduction in water consumption in public buildings is not easily achieved. In schools, government buildings and municipal gardens, army bases and prisons the water consumption was lowered by as much as 50%. These savings postponed new supply infrastructure by about 10 years. But despite all these savings more water was needed. Thus the plant's capacity was almost tripled in 2002, allowing it to provide more than a third of the city's water demand and to relieve overused groundwater resources.
![Karte Vorstadt Windhoek-Goreangab](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Karte_Vorstadt_Windhoek-Goreangab.png)
To retain public confidence, water quality at the Goreangab Treatment Plant is monitored on an ongoing basis after every process step. In the event of any quality problems, the plant goes into recycle mode and water is not delivered. According to Pisani "The citizens of Windhoek have over time become used to the idea that potable reuse is included in their water provision process. In fact, they have grown to harbor a fair amount of pride in the fact that their city in many respects leads the world in direct reclamation."
The upgrading of the plant was partly funded by the
European Investment Bank
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union's investment bank and is owned by the EU Member States. It is one of the largest supranational lenders in the world. The EIB finances and invests both through equity and debt solutions ...
(EIB) and Germany through
KfW
The KfW, which together with its subsidiaries DEG, KfW IPEX-Bank and FuB forms the KfW Bankengruppe ("banking group"), is a German state-owned investment and development bank, based in Frankfurt. As of 2014, it is the world's largest national d ...
development bank. In its ex-post evaluation of the project, KfW noted that the plant faced considerable technical difficulties and temporary shutdowns over a period of seven years until it started to work properly. KfW noted that in the spirit of
integrated water resources management
Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. 97% of the water on the Earth is salt water and only three percent is fresh water; slight ...
more should have been done to reduce the per capita water consumption in Windhoek and to protect the Goreangab Dam from pollution, for example by establishing a protection zone with restricted activities around the reservoir. It also noted that the plant did achieve its objective to relieve pressure on overexploited groundwater resources.
Financial aspects
Namibia spends about 3% of its
Gross Domestic Product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a money, monetary Measurement in economics, measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjec ...
on the operation expenditures of it water utilities. This is by far the highest percentage of all Sub-Saharan countries. Per capita, Namibia spends about 80
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
annually on water supply and sanitation, other countries in the region spend between 1 and 10 US$. Providing access to utility water in Namibia costs 4,000 US$ per capita on average.
Financing
A large share of these expenses is borne by NamWater. NamWater passes its costs fully on to its customers. Since its inception some customers failed to pay their water bills, resulting in poor financial performance. However, beginning in 2003 the company was turned around financially, including also by cutting costs. Today NamWater refinances itself to a large extent through notes issues in the Namibian stock market. As of 2015, interest paid on five-year notes issued in the same year was 9.05 percent and the company had a BBB rating from the rating agency
Fitch.
Tariffs
Water tariffs in Namibia are among the highest in Africa. The first block of the residential water tariff in Windhoek costs N$13.86 (USD 0.92) per cubic metre in 2016. The water tariff includes a fixed monthly charge of N$74.43 (5 USD) which is independent of consumption. The first consumption block includes a basic consumption of 200 liter per household and day, an amount that is high for small households but can be low for large households. Higher consumption is charged at a higher tariff that was N$20.93 per cubic metre (USD 1.40) in 2015. The municipality bills water together with electricity, solid waste collection and the property tax. Residents of informal settlements receive water through public standpipes equipped with prepaid water meters. Prepaid customers pay about USD 1.9 per kiloliter (cubic metre), or about USD 0.038 per 20‐liter container.
Water tariffs in other municipalities vary. Those municipalities that receive bulk water from NamWater, which includes all large municipalities, have to recover the costs of bulk water supply plus the cost of water distribution to the customers through their own networks. A few smaller municipalities that have their own water sources are not subject to this constraint. For example, the municipality of
Oranjemund
Oranjemund (German for ''"Mouth of Orange"'') is a diamond mining town of 4,000 inhabitants situated in the ǁKaras Region of the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth at the border to South Africa.
Histo ...
provides water for free and thus has by far the highest water use in the country with an astonishing 2,667 liters/capita/day. Bulk water tariff charged by NamWater vary slightly across the country depending on the cost of supplying a specific location, but these differences are not fully passed on to municipalities. Thus NamWater effectively cross-subsidizes localities with high supply costs with surpluses from localities with lower supply costs.
Sanitation
Compared to the efforts made to improve access to safe water, Namibia is lagging behind in the provision of adequate sanitation.
[ This includes 298 schools that have no toilet facilities.] Over 50% of child deaths are related to lack of water, sanitation, or hygiene; 23% are due to diarrhea alone. The UN has identified a "sanitation crisis" in the country.
Apart from residences for upper and middle class households, sanitation is insufficient in most residential areas. Private flush toilets are too expensive for virtually all residents in township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
s due to their water consumption and installation cost. As a result, access to improved sanitation
Improved sanitation (related to but distinct from a "safely managed sanitation service") is a term used to categorize types of sanitation for monitoring purposes. It refers to the management of human feces at the household level. The term was coi ...
has not increased much since independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
: In Namibia's rural areas as of 2008 13% of the population had more than basic sanitation, up from 8% in 1990. Many of Namibia's inhabitants have to resort to "flying toilets", plastic bags to defecate which after use are flung into the bush. The use of open areas close to residential land to urinate and defecate is very common and has been identified as a major health hazard
A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would allow them, even just theoretically, to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probabi ...
.
A National Sanitation Strategy 2010-15 estimated that it would cost N$1.64 billion over five years to reach the strategy's goal through 186 individual initiatives. The strategy also noted that it was unlikely that the government would be able to afford these costs.
See also
* Water supply and sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa
* Economy of Namibia
The economy of Namibia has a modern market sector, which produces most of the country's wealth, and a traditional subsistence sector. Although the majority of the population engages in subsistence agriculture and herding, Namibia has more than ...
* Health in Namibia
References
Notes
Literature
*
External links
Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry
NamWater
{{Water supply and sanitation by country