The bulk water supplier said on Friday that it hoped to step in soon to help improve the Opuwo Town Council's capacity to manage the water distribution system and to improve debt collection.

Residents are charging that the brackish water with a high lime content is making them sick and until the quality is improved, some refuse to pay for water.

With the exception of the hospital, Opuwo residents receive water for only two hours a day.

NamWater maintains that it is not to blame for the water supply being cut, or for the quality of the water.

The lime in the water is also the cause of blockages and other problems with the water pipelines.

The Town Council will have to pay its debt of N$500 000 if it wants the water to be restored again, plus make an advance payment for a month's supply of water.

This could cost in the region of N$180 000.

Yesterday, Opuwo Town Clerk Libertus Mbaumba said revenue collection was still a problem, and that much of the situation could be attributed to unemployment and the inability to pay for water.

He said in principle the town council was in agreement with the conditions outlined in the proposed agreement, and they were planning to seal the deal by the end of the week.

Mbaumba said residents were not deliberately sabotaging the water system but that the high lime content made pipe bursts a regular occurrence.

"It is true that we have a lot of people who are unemployed and find it difficult to pay.

The lime content in the water also results in blockages and the pressure of the water makes the pipes burst, but it is not that people are intentionally destroying the water system," said Mbaumba.

While NamWater insists that the water at Opuwo is safe for human consumption, it says it would require at least N$12 million to put up a water-treatment plant at the town.

The water utility says it does not have the money needed for such a project and it is negotiating with the Ministries of Agriculture, Water and Forestry and Local Government to work on an action plan.

Because of the rock formations in the area, water in Opuwo's boreholes naturally contains high quantities of magnesium and sodium.

"Despite the taste, the water remains fit for human consumption as it falls in category C, which can still be consumed.

Only water in class D is not for human consumption, as it may have bacteriological contamination," NamWater Corporate Communications Manager Johannes Shigwedha said.

NamWater's Regional Manager for Water Supply to the Northern Regions, Gert van Eeden, told the media that the complaints about brackish water were nothing new and that people in the area had been drinking the same quality of water for more than thirty years.

"There is no short-term solution to the quality problem, unfortunately," said van Eeden, saying NamWater had not managed to secure donor funding for a water-treatment project.

Piping water from the Kunene River would not be viable, the company has said.

Van Eeden said much of Opuwo's high water bill could be attributed to severe wastage - often as much as 40 per cent.

Taps and broken pipes, he said, were seldom fixed immediately and could run for days on end.

The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) said yesterday that it was appalled by NamWater's stance on the water issue at Opuwo, saying its sources had been advised by medical practitioners against drinking the water.

NSHR executive director Phil ya Nangoloh said in a statement yesterday that if the water utility was able to pipe water to Oshivelo, it could be done for Opuwo too.

Last week, DTA leader Katuutire Kaura brought a motion before the National Assembly calling for the water situation at Opuwo to be discussed.

NamWater has already entered into capacity-building agreements with Karibib, Arandis and Usakos to help manage their water affairs better, and assistance to Katima Mulilo is also in the offing.

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