42 Business and training
Namibia – a desert country?
By Andrew Camphausen
I recently travelled to Namibia for business purposes. While coming in to land at Windhoek’ s airport, I noticed that the land had a shadow of green tinge to it.
Andrew Camphausen
Andrew( Andy) Camphausen has been in the building / plumbing industry for over 20 years. During his six years in the Free State, he was nominated and served as the vice-chairman of IOPSA Free State. He was offered a Regional Management position at Cobra Watertech, which is still his employer today. In 2011, Andy was promoted to National Channel Manager of the Commercial Sector, where he was transferred to the head office in Bryanston, Gauteng.
When I visited Namibia last year, it looked as though the desert was taking over then— it was so dry. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the landscape looked very much the same as the Green Kalahari in South Africa near Kuruman and Kathu.
This got me thinking: what is happening to Namibia and its water situation? When I was a youngster, I was taught that South West Africa( now independent Namibia) is a desert. When visiting this country now, I realised that what I had been taught was not entirely true.
Namibia has around 2.2m people residing in it, but it has a huge land area of 825 000km 2, which is about two-thirds the size of South Africa. The huge difference is our massive population compared with Namibia. South Africa has more than 25 times the population density of Namibia. Hence, the need for urban cities is far greater in South Africa than in Namibia.
So a few facts about Namibia and water:
• About 91 % of the total population, urban and rural, have access to an improved water source.
• Sanitation is not that lucky, though, with around 34 % total access to improved sanitation.
• NamWater is the national water company that sells water to the mining companies as well as municipalities, which in turn sell it to urban residents and businesses.
• NamWater operates 16 dams, 14 water supply networks, and 16 water treatment plants.
• Water tariffs in Namibia are among the highest in Africa. The water tariff in Windhoek is an average of NAD13.86 per 1 000l. In times of drought, this average tariff has risen to as much as NAD21.00 per 1000l consumed.
• Many Namibians in rural areas prefer the traditional wells to the available water points that are far away.
• Over the past century, more than 100 000 boreholes have been drilled in Namibia and half of these are still in operation today.
• In 2012, German hydro-geologists discovered a huge aquifer in northern Namibia that could supply the area where 40 % of the population of the country lives and that has sustained it for over 400 years. The aquifer, called Ohangwena 2, contains about five billion cubic metres of water and it has been aged at around 10 000 years old.
• The coastal areas in Namibia are nearly devoid of groundwater, hence: a. Namibia boasts one of the largest seawater desalination plants in sub-Saharan Africa, to supply a uranium mine and the town of Swakopmund with water. b. Reuse of treated wastewater is practiced in Namibia in many urban areas, such as Swakopmund, Walvis Bay, Tsumeb, Otjiwarongo, Okahandja, Oranjemund, and Windhoek. In most localities, water is used for irrigation. In Windhoek, reclaimed water is used for potable uses.
• Namibia infrastructure on water resources are constantly maintained, which makes them one of the best preventative maintenance countries in Africa.
• Namibia spends around 3 % of its GDP on the operational expenditures of its water utilities. This is by far the highest percentage of all sub-Saharan countries.
• As of 2015, interest paid on five-year notes issued in the same year was 9 %, and NamWater had a BBB rating from the rating agency Fitch.
• Compared to the efforts made to improve access to safe water, Namibia is lagging behind in the provision of adequate sanitation.
• It is reported that approximately 250 schools have no toilet facilities. Over 50 % of child deaths are related to lack of water, sanitation, or hygiene; 20 % are due to diarrhoea alone.
• To try to combat these statistics, Namibia implemented a national sanitation strategy that is currently underway through 186 different initiatives.
The rumours about Namibia being this dry desert type country are simply inaccurate. Sub-Saharan Africa could learn a thing or two from them regarding lateral thinking and the implementation of water strategies in waterstressed areas.
What we as South Africans in the plumbing fraternity can take from this is that the opportunity to sustain our internal infrastructure starts and ends with us. We are the past, present, and future of plumbing maintenance and infrastructure sustainability in this beautiful country we call South Africa and in our neighbouring countries, like Namibia. PA
July 2017 Volume 23 I Number 5 www. plumbingafrica. co. za