Five pylons in NamWater's electricity network in the riverbed gave way to the force of the river and the power supply was cut off early yesterday morning, NamWater's Corporate Communications Manager, John Shigwedha, said yesterday.

At the end of January, the Kuiseb knocked out the water pumps that supply water to Walvis Bay.

The river knocked down 40 power pylons near Rooibank, disrupting both the power and water supply at the town.

Then, the river flowed to about 30 kilometres outside the harbour town.

Yesterday afternoon, NamWater's maintenance team was on the scene, waiting to start with repairs as soon as the water level permitted.

"We'll get into the river as soon as it subsides and the conditions allow," said Shigwedha.

"The Mile 7 reservoir, which supplies Walvis Bay, is 88 per cent full.

According to our calculations, we have currently approximately one full day's water supply available in our reservoirs."

Yesterday NamWater could supply only 133 cubic metres of water an hour to Walvis Bay.

The harbour town uses about 700 cubic metres per hour.

"Currently we cannot tell how long it will take to repair the damage, as we cannot access the river," Shigwedha said.

He urged Walvis Bay residents to use water sparingly.

Municipal spokesperson Utaara Hoveka told The Namibian that 15 pylons had been uprooted.

According to him, by late afternoon about 60 per cent of normal water supply had been restored.

"But weather in the east still looks threatening and forces us to adopt a conservative approach," he said.

"We will try and prevent a complete shutdown of supply but we had to reduce it, with a resultant drop in pressure, in order to protect the water in the reservoirs for as long as possible."

André Brummer, the Municipality's General Manager: Water, Waste and Environmental Management, confirmed yesterday afternoon that there was no immediate need to cut the water supply.

He said the reservoirs were much fuller than they had been earlier this month when cut-offs occurred regularly.

As a safety measure, the water pressure was reduced yesterday from the usual 680 cubic metres per hour to 480 cubic metres per hour.

Brummer followed the flow of the Kuiseb yesterday to where it stopped some 12 kilometres from the salt pans.

There, he said, the water was less than half a metre deep.

At lunchtime on Monday, the river reached a depth of about two and a half metres near the Gobabeb research station.

The water had subsided to less than a metre deep by yesterday morning.

The last time the Kuiseb River reached the ocean was in 2000.

According to Shigwedha, NamWater is investigating the possibility of supplying water to Walvis Bay directly from Swakopmund via a pipeline system.

"But that is for the future," he said.

The Walvis Bay Mayor, King Mandume Muatunga, is planning to discuss with the Government a proposal that the responsibility of the town's water supply be handed back to the Walvis Bay Municipality.

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