By Obiabin Onukwugha
Namibian authorities have expressed worry as water levels remain low in its dams nation-wide
According to the Namibia Water Corporation’s (NamWater) latest update on the state of the country’s dams, published on namabian.com, the country’s main surface water reservoirs are storing substantially less water now than a year ago.
The NamWater’s weekly dam bulletin, which was released on Monday, indicated that the three dams on which Windhoek depends for a major part of its water supply; Swakoppoort, Von Bach and Omatako, were currently holding about 33,2 million cubic metres of water, compared to combined contents of 68,9 million cubic metres a year ago.
The report also indicated that three dams are currently filled to 21,5% of their combined capacity less than half of their combined level of 44,6% a year ago.
“The Hardap Dam near Mariental, which is an important source of water for irrigation, is currently storing about 46 million cubic metres of water, which is 15,7% of its capacity, compared to a level of about 46% (135,7 million cubic metres) at the same time last year.
“The City of Windhoek announced restrictions on the use of water at the end of May last year and set a savings target of 10% below the city’s normal water consumption levels.
“Last week, however, city residents again exceeded the savings target, using 10% more water than the set target.
The main dam levels reported by NamWater yesterday, with the dams’ readings at the corresponding time a year ago in brackets, are: Swakoppoort 42,4% (80,4%), Von Bach 12,3% (32,5%), Omatako 1,1% (5,6%), Hardap 15,7% (46%), Neckartal 85% (94,8%), Naute 43,2% (71,8%), Oanob 45% (65%), Otjivero Main 5% (19,3%), Otjivero Silt empty (0,9%), Tilda Viljoen 13% (32%), Daan Viljoen 6,7% (25,4%), Olushandja 43,4% (14,8%) and Friedanau 57% (75,7%),” the updated stated.