Windhoek
In a desperate attempt to save water the Windhoek Municipality plans to punish, through extra charges, households that guzzle more than 50 000 litres of water a month.
The municipality has also hinted that it will consider rationing water supply in the city, as a last resort, if the new measures it has put in place do not yield the desired results within the next three months.
“We are introducing new penalty tariff brackets on high consumption, meaning if you consume more than 50 cubic metres per month at domestic level you will be charged more,” the Windhoek Municipality spokesperson Lydia Amutenya said.
The municipality says previous attempts to save water have not worked, with the municipality only saving 5.7 percent water as of April.
As a result the municipality plans to carry out random inspections among households and fine anyone found with a swimming pool without a cover.
“All car wash businesses should comply with the regulatory requirements, which state that the washing of cars with hosepipes instead of a bucket is not allowed,” said Amutenya.
Further, no hosing of paved areas will be allowed and culprits will be fined.
The municipality has, since December last year, been urging residents to reduce their water usage by at least 10 percent to ease pressure on the city’s low water reserves.
By December last year the Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) was supplying Windhoek with a monthly quota of water, which should sustain the city’s reservoirs only until June 2015. The rest will be pumped from boreholes that are normally reserved for use during times of drought.
“It is unfortunate that despite all interventions, only about 5.7 percent water savings have been achieved for the month of April 2015,” Amutenya said. “As a result, we have decided to enforce [these] measures in an attempt to rescue the situation and we are calling for residents’ support to enforce these measures,” she added.
“As a last resort if the water saving target is not achieved in the next three months’ time, the city will introduce water rationing and the intervals will be communicated in this regard.”
“Business sectors are requested to co-operate with the city on water saving measures within their organisations,” Amutenya said.