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Nambrew hopes no migration

Namibia Breweries Limited is hoping not to migrate production volumes south of the Orange River as the brewer tries to comply with the City of Windhoek’s water saving requirements. This comes as the City of Windhoek has instructed it to reduce its water usage by 30%.
The Economist has established that while the brewer is working hard to comply with the directive issued by the municipality, the latter has in turn rejected an application by the brewer to drill a borehole to a water source that does not in fact supply water to the city. The water source in question is situated in the vicinity of the Northern Industrial Area where the brewing plant is also situated. It has been identified some time back as a major aquifer which has the potential to supply the majority of the water the brewery needs.
Speaking to Nambrew’s Managing Director Wessie van der Westhuizen this week, he said that the brewer was committed to not migrate beer volumes south to their plant in Sedibeng in Gauteng.
“As of the 1st of April 2016, we have managed to comply to the 30% reduction in water usage as per the City of Windhoek’s request. Our application for the third borehole in an aquifer not linked to the aquifer currently supplying the City, was aimed at achieving a 70% self-sufficiency in water and so doing allowing us to use even less city water, thus making more water available to the City of Windhoek. As long as we are not required to reduce our water usage further, no migration of production to Sedibeng will be necessary, however, should we be required to reduce our water usage further, and not receive access to a borehole, we may need to migrate volumes to South Africa.”
He added, “Our first application has been denied. However, we are busy with the next round of negotiations with the City of Windhoek. In addition to the two on-site boreholes, Namibia Breweries Limited has invested in a pre-water treatment plant. It is important to note that the current boreholes that we are extracting water from, are not linked to the aquifer supplying the city with water. It would be ideal for Namibia Breweries Limited to have access to unutilised water sources as opposed to relying on the City, hence our ongoing discussions with the City for access to additional boreholes.
According to Van der Westhuizen, the brewer has also gone as far as providing the municipality with water. “Please bear in mind that for every cubic meter of water we can extract at our cost, we can give back a cubic meter of water to the City of Windhoek to be made available to the rest of Windhoek [through recycling].”

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