Martin Endjala
The Mariental Municipality has suspended the supply of garden water (semi-reticulated water), as of 30 April until further notice.
According to the municipality chief executive officer, Paul Nghiwilepo, the suspension of supply of unpurified water is due to the low level of the Hardap Dam, which currently stands at 12.3% as of 22 April.
In a telephonic interview on Tuesday, Nghiwilepo said the decision to suspend the supply of garden water, was to preserve the supply of purified water for human consumption.
“Unlike other towns, Mariental has a dual system of water. In some of the properties or erven in Mariental, you have two taps outside. One for potable water and another one for gardening water.
Garden water is coming from the dam unpurified, and that is for gardening purposes. Now given the level of the dam, what we are saying, we want to suspend the supply of garden water. So that the available water is only used for human consumption,” explained Nghiwilepo.
He further explained that people have an alternative, for instance, those who do not have garden water, can make use of their portable water, particularly in cases of those who have garden projects.
Nghiwilepo stated that one of the issues with garden water is that it costs N$2.70 per cubic, which is cheaper than compared to N$22 drinking water.
He stressed that due to the low level of water in the dam, the municipality had to suspend the garden water supply.
The suspension was due to kick off on Tuesday, but the CEO revealed that he had discussions with NamWater.
He said NamWater is still making calculations which will see the municipality moving to a system where NamWater will provide water for two days during the week for gardening purposes.
Nghiwilepo said at the moment these are just discussions in terms of looking at alternatives but such a decision has not been made yet.
