By George Sanzila
Katima Mulilo – Another crippling water crisis has hit Katima Mulilo only a few days after water shortages hit the town last weekend.
A pipe burst is the cause of the latest crisis and might take several days to repair due to the difficulty of its location.
The pipe runs under a building at the Zambezi Waterfront and Tourism Park and is believed to have succumbed to the weight and pressure of the building on top of it, resulting in the burst.
Although acknowledging the seriousness of the situation, the water superintendent for Kavango East and Zambezi Region, Joseph Mulisa, was reluctant to say how long it would take NamWater to repair or replace the pipe.
“Whether we have a new or old pipe, sometimes they can just burst but in this case we believe that the weight of the building might have caused the burst. Unfortunately it’s difficult to say when the pipe will be fixed. Our technicians and material are on the ground and we are working around the clock to resolve this problem,”said Mulisa.
Mulisa dismissed claims that material needed to repair the pipe still has to come from Windhoek. He also stated that the building affecting the pipe would have to be removed to avert a similar crisis in future.
“It is our intention to remove the building depending on the situation. The possibility is that if the building is left in this alignment, the problem might occur again,” said Mulisa.
The building, a part of accommodation infrastructure at the Zambezi Waterfront, stands on top of the pipe that supplies water to residents of Katima Mulilo who number over 26 000.
Katima Mulilo Town Council Chief Executive Officer, Charles Nawa, noted that the water crisis needed urgent attention from NamWater, the Zambezi Waterfront and town council and promised to ration water to residents as an alternative intervention.
“It’s very serious. This involves all the parties – us, NamWater and the Waterfront. We will start to ration water to schools and other institutions. We are working very hard to resolve this issue,” stated Nawa.
Institutions such as schools have also been adversely affected by the water shortage. Caprivi Senior Secondary School Principal, Michaal Mudabeti, told this reporter that learners in the hostel were released from school yesterday because of the problem. ”We were promised by council that they will bring water to the school but that did not happen. We decided to release our learners in the hostel because it’s a health hazard,” said Mudabeti.
The director of Unam’s Katima Mulilo campus, Dr Bennet Kangumu, stated that although the institution is in recess, staff still accommodated at the campus are heavily affected by the crisis. “Luckily for us our students are on holiday and our staff on a short break. But we have some of our staff who stay on campus including contractors that are performing various functions on the campus and all of them are adversely affected,” noted Kangumu.
Attempts to get comment from Katima Mulilo hospital were fruitless as the acting health director was said to be on leave.
Residents who were caught unprepared by the water stoppage yesterday and who were still recovering from the water shortage last weekend that is said to be unrelated to the current crisis are being forced to draw untreated water from the Zambezi River, thus running the risk of contracting waterborne diseases and exposure to crocodile attacks.
Residents are furious over the water shortages that have become routine in Katima