2005 - 2006 - Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2012

NAMIBIA PART 2: COUNTRY ANALYSIS
Namibia
The Water Resources Management Bill was introduced in 2004, placing an obligation on the Ministry
of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development to ensure that safe water is available for basic human
needs. With the exception of abstracting water for domestic use, the new law will introduce a
comprehensive licensing system for the extraction and use of water, as well as the discharge of waste
water. A Water Regulatory Board will control water abstraction and effluent discharge pricing.
Water and wastewater assets and services are relatively advanced due to the German colonial legacy
and the need for active water management in an extremely arid country. Of the 533,000 people living
in urban areas, 341,000 have household water connections and 75,000 are served via standpumps.
Approximately 96% of the urban population has some form of sanitation, with 349,000 having access
to the sewerage network. Namibia aims to have 97% urban sewerage coverage by 2010.
Groundwater accounts for 73% of water resources. Only 3% of the country’s rainfall is used, due to
the high rate of evapotranspiration.
While Nam Water has been commercialised, privatisation has been restricted to new facilities and
service extension. Nam Water has a turnover of N$250 million and an asset base of N$1,400 million,
with an annual capital spending of N$150-200 million. An AA credit rating allied with cost recovery
means that the entity is able to fund its current activities.
The commercialisation of water supply in Namibia’s Windhoek Municipality has been based on cost
recovery for those who can and developing a system of cross subsidies for the poor. This is being
challenged in 2004 by a lobby who argue that water and sanitation ought to be free.
The capital Windhoek is having its main drinking water treatment facility built and operated by Berlin
Wasser International and Vivendi Environnement (now VE). The consortium will operate the water
reclamation plant for 20 years. This facility is being financed by Germany’s KfW (construction)
together with the European Investment Bank (EIB). The contract generates a turnover of €2 million
per annum. The capacity of the plant will be 21,000m 3 per day. This is nearly 50% of the city's total
water consumption. The water supplies from the current Central Namibian reservoir system and from
wells has run too low. The city's long experience in the reprocessing of wastewater into industrial and
drinking water could not be of any further help. 226,000 out of the city’s 271,000 people are served by
household water and sewerage. All of Windhoek’s wastewater that is collected by the sewerage
system is treated.
In December 2002, the NAD100 million (€11.4 million) water reclamation plant for Windhoek entered
service. This is the first multiple-barrier facility in which domestic sewerage is treated to produce
potable water. Raw sewerage is initially pumped into the Gammams Plant before the semi-purified
water is piped to the new plant for further treatment and chlorination.
Private sector contracts awarded (Please see the relevant company entry for details)
Location Contract Company
Windhoek Wastewater treatment BW/VE
Private sector company operations (Please see the relevant company entry for details)
Company Parent company
Population served
(country) Water Sewerage Total
BW/VE Veolia (France)/RWE 0 135,000 135,000
Aqua Utilities, a local water company
Aqua Utilities was established in Namibia in 2001, to pursue opportunities for water and wastewater
treatment and recovery services in Namibia and Southern Africa. Its first project is for providing
treated seawater for Deep Ocean Processors in Walvis Bay; with an N$3 million treatment plant for
cleaning the fish processing unit will enter service by the end of 2005.
147 Pinsent Masons Water Yearbook 2005 – 2006