Central dam levels lower than last year

The dams providing water to the Windhoek area are currently storing 32% less water than at the same point in 2025.

The combined level of the Swakoppoort, Von Bach and Omatako dams stood at 57.7% of their storage capacity on Monday, compared to a combined level of 85.6% a year ago, according to the weekly dam bulletin of the Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) that was released on Monday.

The three dams, from which water for the Windhoek area is sourced, were storing 89.2 million cubic metres of water on Monday. At the same point last year, the three dams held 132.2 million cubic metres of water, NamWater reports.

Swakoppoort Dam received an inflow of 1.1 million cubic metres of water during the past week, while an inflow of 470 000 cubic metres was recorded at Von Bach Dam.

The largest inflows of water recorded since Monday last week were at Neckartal Dam west of Keetmanshoop, which received 5.4 million cubic metres of water, and Naute Dam south-west of Keetmanshoop, where an inflow of 4.9 million cubic metres was recorded.

Inflows were also recorded at Oanob Dam (361 000 cubic metres), Friedenau Dam (305 000 cubic metres) and Goreangab Dam (389 000 cubic metres).

The main dam levels reported by NamWater on Monday, with the dams’ readings at the corresponding time a year ago in brackets, are:

Swakoppoort 80.3% (104.4%)

Von Bach 68.8% (64.9%)

Omatako 12.7% (80.8%)

Hardap 52.8% (74.7%)

Neckartal 100.2% (91.3%)

Naute 86.3% (62.1%)

Dreihuk 16.4% (3.9%)

Oanob 59.5% (68.9%)

Otjivero Main 31.8% (11%)

Otjivero Silt 2.5% (22.6%)

Tilda Viljoen 51.4% (15.7%)

Daan Viljoen 59.2% (64%)

Olushandja 54.6% (70.7%)

Friedenau 56% (64.3%).

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