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Northern regions without water for over a week

2015-08-13  Staff Report 2

Northern regions without water for over a week
Ongwediva Many parts of the northern regions have been without water since last week Wednesday and the situation is predicted to last until the end of this week, while NamWater sorts out “logistic issues” at its bulk water treatment plant. The affected areas are Oshakati, Ongwediva, Ondangwa, Omakango, Helao Nafidi, Omuthiya, the surrounding areas and all the rural branch lines. Areas such as Oshikango, Odibo and Omuthiya have been completely cut off, while the rest of the areas continued to receive rationed water during evening and morning hours. The corporation indicated that there have been logistical problems at the water treatment plant, which created a low water flow from Ogongo to Oshakati. Head of communications at NamWater, Johannes Shigwedha assured the affected communities that the water supply to all the affected areas is expected to normalise by Friday. The water utility issued a press statement on Monday to inform all its clients in the affected areas of the situation, saying: “NamWater would hereby like to inform all its customers that the Oshakati Treatment Plant is unable to supply enough water to bulk and private customers, due to insufficient raw water from the canal into Oshakati raw water dam.” Since the problem was detected on Wednesday last week, the water dam in Oshakati experienced low levels of water and has not had sufficient water to pump to all the areas. Shigwedha said the method currently used to pump the water takes several days for the water to reach the dams in Oshakati. He said NamWater is doing everything possible to improve the flow of water to the Oshakati Treatment Plant. “Within the next three days Oshakati’s raw water dam level will normalise and normal water supply to all areas will resume,” Shigwedha promised. While Namwater claims to be pumping small amounts of water to areas, such as Ondangwa, some residents at the town complained that they have not seen a drop of water since Saturday. One of the affected residents suggested that the pressure is not high enough to pump water to their homes. NamWater had recently threatened to close down the canal stretching from Ruacana to Oshakati, precipitating a storm of complaints from traditional and political leaders in the region. At a recent meeting traditional leaders requested NamWater to find an alternate to the situation, rather than closing the canal on which the vast majority Omusati residents rely.
2015-08-13  Staff Report 2

Tags: Khomas
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