Agriculture ministry funds water softening installations in ten regions
Under its mandate to improve the quality of life for rural communities, the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) this week signed an agreement in Swakopmund with the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform for the implementation of several installation to soften the brackish water of local communities in the Erongo region.
The first three installations which served as pilots for the recent agreement were commissioned last year September at Vrede, Goeie Geluk Pos and Santamab Pos 1 in the vicinity of the Spitzkoppe. These water softening installations employ reverse osmosis to clean the raw borehole water from a range of minerals to produce a clean, potable water.
Part of the agreement makes provision for N$15 million in funding to be availed to the investment fund, solely for the purpose of water softening installations. This part of the agreement serves as an extension of the pilot phase, but this time to ten regions, to test the feasibility of rolling out the installations to many more communities across the entire Namibia.
The ten regions are Erongo, Hardap, Karas, Oshikoto, Kunene, Kavango East, Kavango West, Ohangwena, Omusati and Zambezi.
With the first installations in the Erongo region, special attention was paid to theft proofing to prevent the solar panels and reticulation infrastructure to get stolen.
The Executive Director in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water And Land Reform, Ms Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata said “I am delighted to announce this official signing between the two parties for the funding of the proposed pilot projects in the ten regions in collaboration with the decentralized function of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Coordination unit.
“As a fund, we do all we can to support the transition to a more sustainable future and we want this transition to come as fast as possible. It is my firm belief that the water softening facilities that we are going to put up at various community waterpoints will enhance their resilience to the impact of climate change and enable them to diversify their livelihoods by growing vegetables in their gardens achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all,” said the fund’s Chief Executive, Benedict Libanda.
