ABOUT 20 000 residents from 11 villages in the Omusati region have had no water supply for the past seven weeks.
Villagers say the pipe connecting with their domestic taps has been dry since the middle of September, leaving them with one water source only – an earth dam near Okahao about 20 km from their villages.
The villages are Ombwata, Onandjila, Iilambo, Okalale, Olyasiti, Onkushi, Iikokola, Onangula, Eemwandi, Okatsiidhi and Oluhalu.
The villages fall under the Okahao and Tsandi constituencies.
According to Idi Amin Shaanika, a resident of one of the villages, residents without transport are forced to buy water from other residents.
He says a container of water is sold for between N$15 and N$20.
Shaanika says while some residents can afford to buy themselves water, their animals are thirsty, as they cannot afford to buy water for their animals too.
“Our animals cannot travel 20 km every day to the dam we get water from. They will die,” he says.
Shaanika says he spends N$500 a week on fuel for his tractor to transport water for his animals.
Elia Kadhila from Okatsiidhi says his village has been without water for almost four months.
Kadhila is the custodian of the pipeline to his village, and says Rural Water Supply has been promising to solve the problem for months, but nothing happened.
He says people have now resorted to digging wells, while some get water from a nearby borehole, but this water is sour and not fit for human consumption.
“Even though people get diarrhoea from drinking this water, they just have to drink it. We are suffering,” he says.
When he was on leave in September, Kadhila says he would get water from Tsandi – about 50 km from his village.
Ombwata village headwoman Elise Shaanika says about 190 households at her village are facing a lack of water.
Okatsiidhi village headwoman Aina shigwedha says her village has 260 households without water.
Okahao constituency councillor Leonard Shikulo promised to provide feedback on the matter, but had not done so at the time of going to print.
NamWater spokesperson Johannes Shigwedha referred The Namibian to Rural Water Supply.
Water supply manager Stefanus Mukuya last week said the situation at Okahao has been resolved and it will take about seven days for the water to reach all villages.
“The water demand has exceeded the supply, meaning the water we are treating to supply to the community with is not enough to meet their demand.
“The treatment plant is designed to treat 105 cubic metres of drinking water per hour, but, as we speak, we have exceeded that capacity and are treating between 110 and 120 cubic metres per hour, which compromises the quality and quantity of water coming from the plant,” he said.
Contacted for comment, Omusati chief regional officer Gervasius Kashindi said the problem lies with NamWater.
“We don’t know what NamWater is doing. On another occasion they said it was their pumps at Calueque. Rural Water Supply is just a distributer and the problem cannot be on their side. If the bulk supplier is not supplying enough water, Rural Water Supply will not be able to do that,” Kashindi said.
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