Pricey Rural Water Points

ALLOW me a space in your newspaper to ask the Rural Water Supply Department some questions.

I am a student at the Polytechnic of Namibia. I come from Oneeya village in the Okalongo constituency.In my vicinity there are four communal water points, which came later after independence, around 1993-5.It was a delight to have them (water points) until late 2003 because water tariffs were N$15.00 per month from every house using water from a particular water point.But then the Rural Water Supply Department increased the water tariffs.A cattle is N$ 7.00 per month, a goat and a sheep is N$5.00 per month while a 25L container is 15 cents per number of times it is used per day.My questions are whether these people have domestic animals, if yes, can they afford these high water tariffs? Were these water points really meant for everyone (both rich and poor)? I personally don’t think so because by now only people who can afford to collect water from these points, while others have turned to the old fashioned style of digging wells, a situation that will definitely push our water table deep down.I think that we should only be charged N$15.00 per month per household because only a few people are using these water points.Please Namibians lets not colonise ourselves, let’s put everything under our control and our affordability.Water becomes too expensive and this is not the way forward the realization of Vision 2030.Underground water is not good anymore because we are used to fresh water.What if it becomes salty? Where are we going to turn to? We cannot stand this situation any longer.Please do something appreciable, affordable and acceptable.Kanime Simeon Polytechnic of NamibiaI come from Oneeya village in the Okalongo constituency.In my vicinity there are four communal water points, which came later after independence, around 1993-5.It was a delight to have them (water points) until late 2003 because water tariffs were N$15.00 per month from every house using water from a particular water point.But then the Rural Water Supply Department increased the water tariffs.A cattle is N$ 7.00 per month, a goat and a sheep is N$5.00 per month while a 25L container is 15 cents per number of times it is used per day.My questions are whether these people have domestic animals, if yes, can they afford these high water tariffs? Were these water points really meant for everyone (both rich and poor)? I personally don’t think so because by now only people who can afford to collect water from these points, while others have turned to the old fashioned style of digging wells, a situation that will definitely push our water table deep down.I think that we should only be charged N$15.00 per month per household because only a few people are using these water points.Please Namibians lets not colonise ourselves, let’s put everything under our control and our affordability.Water becomes too expensive and this is not the way forward the realization of Vision 2030.Underground water is not good anymore because we are used to fresh water.What if it becomes salty? Where are we going to turn to? We cannot stand this situation any longer.Please do something appreciable, affordable and acceptable.Kanime Simeon Polytechnic of Namibia