Photo: The Namibian
A new desalination plant that would cost N$ 8.7 billion could be the conventional long-term water source solution to the growing demand for water in Namibia’s coastal and central areas, NamWater Chief Executive Officer Abraham Nehemia has said.
Highlighting to the media the outcome of a desalination workshop on Thursday, Nehemia said the long-term water supply security challenges experienced can be solved through desalinating seawater to supply both coastal areas and Windhoek.
He explained that the plan for the proposed desalination, which would use a mixture of grid and solar power, will produce an overall capacity of 36.6 million cubic metres per year.
Nehemia revealed that during the workshop, a consultant proposed a public-private partnership financial model between NamWater, local authorities and the uranium mines for implementation, stressing that working together for the realisation of the plant will be cheaper and will eliminate further delays.
“Water demand is growing drastically and we have to do everything possible to meet the demands. We cannot have mines not operating due to lack of water, we would be doing ourselves as a country a disservice,” he stressed.
Nehemia further indicated that based on the benchmarking to the already existing Orano plant, a new desalination plant was preferred over the upgrading of the current plant.
He noted that the feasibility study is being done through the financial assistance of the German Government to the tune of N$ 19.5 million.
Source: NAMPA
