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Gammams to get N$450 million facelift

The Gammams Water Works will undergo a N$450 million upgrade in the near future. Construction is expected to take three years.

Pending the outcome of an environmental impact assessment, The Gammams Water Works will in the near future receive a multi-million dollar facelift, 54 years after it was commissioned, according to City of Windhoek Spokesperson Joshua Amukugo. Said Amukugo, “The provisional budget for the entire project inclusive of professional fees, actual construction costs and procurement of new equipment is approximately N$ 450 million.” The facility, commissioned in 1961, has in the past undergone two upgrades, with the first conducted in 1991 and the second in 2001, increasing the treatment capacity from 6.1 mega litres per day to the current 26 mega litres per day per day.

According to Amukugo, the current inflow is 38 mega litres per day, more than the intended inflow. “With the high inflow, it gets more and more difficult and expensive to treat the water to the required standards. The upgrading of the plant is therefore not only required from an environmental perspective but is instrumental in the sustainability of potable water supply to the City of Windhoek,” Amukugo said. He added, “The plant is furthermore supplying the Wingoc Reclamation Plant with treated water and the quality of this water is subject to extremely strict quality control procedures and parameters.” The construction of the treatment facility will take approximately three years Amukugo explained. Components that will be constructed include a new secondary treatment works, a new odour control facility, new waste piping from the secondary treatment to a new waste activate sludge, new primary treatment such as inlet channels, screens and grit removal as well as a primary sedimentation tank and a new pump station while the 11 kilowatt power line will be relocated. The current plant currently provides approximately 26% of Windhoek’s water while 66% is collected from dams which include the Omatako dam, the von Bach dam, the Swakkopport dam with the remainder coming from ground water sources.

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