Water supply and sanitation in Namibia

Namibia Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March... : Water and Sanitation

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! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Access to an improved water source

Improved water source

According to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" water sources:* household connections* public standpipes* boreholes* protected dug wells...

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! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Access to improved sanitation

Improved sanitation

According to the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" sanitation:* connection to a public sewer* connection to a septic system* pour-flush latrine...

NamWater

The Namibia Water Corporation or NamWater is a parastatal in Namibia. It is wholly owned by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of Namibia. The company employees over 600 workers across the country....

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! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Water and sanitation regulator
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! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Responsibility for policy setting
|valign="top"| Department of Water Affairs
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! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Sector law
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! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Number of urban service providers
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Water resources

Namibia’s climate is hot and dry with erratic rainfall. Within Africa its climate is second in aridity only to the Sahara. Namibia shares several large rivers, such as the Orange River

Orange River

The Orange River , Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in South Africa. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean...

in the South as well as the Zambezi

Zambezi

The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. The area of its basin is , slightly less than half that of the Nile...

and Okavango River

Okavango River

The Okavango River is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for . It begins in Angola, where it is known as the Cubango River...

s in the North. But these rivers are far away from the population centers and the cost of tapping them for drinking water supply is prohibitive. Only the Cunene River

Cunene River

The Cunene River or Kunene River is a river in Southern Africa. It flows from the Angola highlands south to the border with Namibia. It then flows west along the border until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of the few perennial rivers in the region. It is about long, with a drainage...

, which is shared with Angola, provides drinking water for four Northern regions of Namibia.

The total assured safe yield of Namibia’s water resources is estimated at 660 million m3/year, distributed as follows: groundwater 300 million m3/year, ephemeral rivers 200 million m3/year, perennial rivers 150 million m3/year and unconventional sources such as treated wastewater 10 million m3/year. Total water consumption in Namibia was estimated at 300 million m3 in 2000. The municipal sector used 73 million m3 (24 percent). Reuse of water is practised in Namibia in many urban areas such as Swakopmund

Swakopmund

Swakopmund is a city on the coast of northwestern Namibia, west of Windhoek, Namibia's capital. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. As a seaside resort, the weather is cooler here in December to January so the territorial administration moves to Swakopmund for these months...

, Walvis Bay

Walvis Bay

Walvis Bay , is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies...

, Tsumeb

Tsumeb

Tsumeb is a city of 15,000 inhabitants and the largest town in Oshikoto region in northern Namibia. Tsumeb is the home of the world-famous Tsumeb mine, and the "gateway to the north" of Namibia. It is the closest town to the Etosha National Park...

, Otjiwarongo

Otjiwarongo

Otjiwarongo is a city of 20,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Otjiwarongo electoral constituency and also the capital of Otjozondjupa....

, Okahandja

Okahandja

Okahandja is a town of 14,000 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the Garden Town of Namibia. It is located 70km north of Windhoek on the B1 road...

, Mariental

Mariental

-settlements:*Mariental, Germany, in the district of Helmstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany*Mariental, Namibia, in the Hardap Region, Namibia-other places:*Mariental, a valley near the Katzenbuckel located in Elztal, Germany...

, Oranjemund

Oranjemund

Oranjemund is a town of 4,000 inhabitants situated in the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth. It exists to service the diamond industry....

and Windhoek

Windhoek

Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...

. In Windhoek, reclamation of water for potable reuse has been practised since 1968. The plant could supply 8 000 m3/day, which was about 19 percent of the average daily water demand of the city in 1997. A new reclamation plant with a capacity of 21 000 m3/day was completed in 2002.

Water supply

Namibia is the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa to provide water through municipal departments. The only bulk water supplier in Namibia is NamWater

NamWater

, which sells it to the respective municipalities which in turn deliver it through their reticulation networks. In rural areas, the Directorate of Rural Water Supply in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry is in charge of drinking water supply.

Namibia spends about 3% of its Gross Domestic Product

Gross domestic product

Gross domestic product refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living....

on the operation expenditures of it water utilities—This is by far the highest percentage of all Sub-Saharan countries. Per capita, Namibia spends about 80US$ annually on water supply and sanitation, other countries in the region spend between 1 and 10US$. Providing access to utility water in Namibia costs 4,000US$ on average.

The UN

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

evaluated in 2011 that Namibia has improved its water access network significantly since independence

Namibian War of Independence

See also South African Border War.The Namibian War of Independence, also known as the South African Border War, which lasted from 1966 to 1988, was a guerrilla war, which the nationalist South-West Africa People's Organization and others, fought against the apartheid government in South...

in 1990. A large part of the population can not, however, make use of these resources due to the prohibitively high consumption cost and the long distance between residences and water points in rural areas. As a result, many Namibians prefer the traditional wells over the available water points far away.

Sanitation

Compared to the efforts made to improve access to safe water, Namibia is lagging behind in the provision of adequate sanitation. Over 50% of child deaths are related to lack of water, sanitation, or hygiene; 23% are due to diarrhea alone. The UN has identified a "sanitation crisis" in the country.

Apart from residences for upper and middle class households, sanitation is insufficient in most residential areas. Private flush toilets are too expensive for virtually all residents in township

Township

The word township is used to refer to different kinds of settlements in different countries. Township is generally associated with an urban area. However there are many exceptions to this rule. In Australia, the United States, and Canada, they may be settlements too small to be considered urban...

s due to their water consumption and installation cost. As a result, access to improved sanitation

Improved sanitation

has not increased much since independence

Namibian War of Independence

: In Namibia's rural areas 13% of the population had more than basic sanitation, up from 8% in 1990. Many of Namibia's inhabitants have to resort to "flying toilets", plastic bags to defecate which after use are flung into the bush. The use of open areas close to residential land to urinate and defecate is very common.

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