GROUND WATER
Water is life. In a country as dry as Namibia, water resources are scarce and unreliable. Namibia, the driest country in Africa south of the Sahara, depends largely on groundwater. Surface water availability is closely linked to a rainfall pattern that is extremely inconsistent in both time and space. Excess rain can cause floods that are difficult to manage and during droughts surface water is insufficient, resulting in water restrictions. Groundwater resources, a “hidden treasure” underground, are more reliable, widespread and naturally protected against evaporation. The groundwater stored in the pore spaces between sand grains and in voids of rocks has a regulating function: it can be abstracted during dry periods and filled up again by recharge during good rains.
Over the past century, more than 100 000 boreholes have been drilled and supply groundwater for industrial, municipal and rural water supply. They provide drinking water to man, livestock and game, irrigation water for crop production, industries and mines. The advantage of using groundwater sources in Namibia is that even isolated communities and those economic activities located far from good surface water sources like mining, agriculture and tourism can be supplied from groundwater over nearly 80 % of the country. Despite considerable investment in drilling, borehole design and construction as well as pumping and maintenance, groundwater is usually the most economical way of supplying water.
However, groundwater resources, being closely associated with underground rock types that vary with the geological situation, are unevenly distributed across the country. There are only a few favourable places where high volumes of groundwater can be sustainably abstracted, but fortunately there are also few places where no groundwater is found at all. But even if there is sufficient groundwater in a region, it might be unfit for human use because of its poor quality. The north-western part of the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin and the south-eastern part of the Stampriet Basin, the so called salt block, are prominent examples.
The Namibia Water Corporation Ltd (NamWater) was officially registered as a company on 9 December 1997. It is a commercial entity supplying water in bulk to industries, municipalities and the Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation coordination in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. The latter supplies water to rural communities.
The Namibian Government is the sole shareholder, represented by the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry who appoints the Board of Directors to ensure the efficient resource utilisation. The company strives to recover the full cost of water supply, NamWater is committed to providing its customers with a reliable source of quality water at cost recovery tariffs.
Of note is that water belongs to the state and that the Minister of Agriculture Water and Forestry is the custodian of Namibia’s water and the National coordinator of water resource management.