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Boreholes to address water crisis

The development of the new and additional City of Windhoek borehole scheme has been planned to come in operation between the middle of December and the first quarter of 2017 to address the expected shortfall of water and to meet the demand of Central Areas in Namibia (CAN), according to a the Agriculture Ministry.
In a statement from the Minister of Agriculture, John Mutorwa, as well as a presentation by Water expert, Pedro Maritz on the Cabinet Committee Water Supply Security earlier this week, the move is in place when supply from the Von Bach dam together with the inflow from the Karst area will have to be reduced to 55 000 m3/week.
Mutorwa said the drilling program is well under way and the first 14 production boreholes, that will form the core of the supply system to come in operation by December, have already been drilled and tested.
Furthermore, he said contractors have also been appointed to do the required installation work and to link these boreholes with the existing supply network in and around Windhoek to be able to supply in the shortfall of water expected.
“This emergency undertaking is on schedule and the bulk of the boreholes should come into operation by Dec 2016,” Mutorwa added.
Currently water sources that supply the Central Areas in Namibia, like the Omatako dam are already dry, while water levels in both the Von Bach and Swakoppoort dams are rapidly reaching their dead storage levels.
Meanwhile, in the report compiled by a technical committee it is suggested that water supply security, rivers or the ocean could be the country’s long term water solution.
According to, Maritz, pumping water from rivers and the ocean is a massive exercise, but the country has reached a point where water consumption is outstripping supply, hence the need for long-term solutions, despite City of Windhoek having placed water-saving measures to preserve water, residents still fail to meet the water targets.

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Musa Carter

Musa Carter is a long-standing freelance contributor to the editorial team and also an active reporter. He gathers and verifies factual information regarding stories through interviews, observation and research. For the digital Economist, he promotes targeted content through various social networking sites such as the Economist facebook page (/Nameconomist/) and Twitter.