Festus Hamalwa

Ongwediva - Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein commissioned the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Omahenene-Olushandja Canal in the Omusati region on Wednesday.

In the same vein, the minister also inaugurated the additional Outapi Settler water purification plant. The inauguration of this facility is a direct response to the need for increased access to an adequate and secure water supply for domestic and economic activities.

Schlettwein stated that the plant would add an additional 50-60 cubic metres per hour to the current 70 cubic metres, with demand in the region of 200 cubic metres per hour. 

This open water canal was constructed in the 1970s, and bears historic and socio-economic significance as it conveys water for about 150km from the Calueque Dam to the Oshakati Water Treatment Plant.

“Along the 150km stretch, the canal is a source of water for livestock, and an enabler of horticultural activities for small-scale farmers.

NamWater operates the canal as well as four treatment plants along it, located at Olushandja, Outapi, Ogongo and Oshakati, to ensure that drinking water quality is supplied to the citizens in those regions,” Schlettwein observed.

The minister said this canal has a design capacity starting at 10 cubic metres per second for the first section from Omahenene to Olushandja, and ending at 1.3 cubic metres per second at Oshakati.

The majority of citizens in the four northern regions of Omusati, Oshana, Ohangwena and Oshikoto are supplied with fresh water from the Cunene River at Calueque Dam in Southern Angola through this canal.

“This canal was not only built to supply potable water for the Namibian population in this part of the country, but also to cater for irrigated agricultural production. It is for that reason that one of the government’s largest green scheme projects, the Etunda Irrigation Scheme, was developed in this region, and is being supplied with water from the Calueque dam via this canal,” he stated.

One can, therefore, see how important this infrastructure is to the livelihoods of people, agricultural production and the economy of the northern regions at large.

“The provision of water to our people is one of the Namibian government’s top priorities, and it is for this reason that projects (countrywide) worth costed at about N$10 billion have been approved to develop and upgrade water infrastructure to extend secure water supply to all corners of this country up to 2037,” he added.

Also speaking at the occasion, Namwater CEO Abraham Nehemia said a number of capital projects have been identified as key towards ensuring water security in the country. These projects have been made priority within the corporation’s five-year implementation plan, some of which have already commenced.

“One of such projects is the refurbishment of the Calueque-Oshakati canal. This canal is at the centre of water supply in northern Namibia, such that NamWater simply cannot do without it. It is the main and only conveyance system of raw water that is treated at our various purification plants which supply water to the residents of the Omusati, Oshana, Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions,” he noted.

-fhamalwa@nepc.com.na