Niël Terblanché
Swakopmund averted a water crisis following the water supply disruption due to a pipe break in the Omdel-Swakopmund water supply system.
The water supply was restored on Wednesday after the technical staff of NamWater worked throughout Tuesday night to restore the bulk water supply to the holiday town.
The situation that could have left the town facing the risk of a complete water outage was described as an emergency by NamWater spokesperson Lot Ndamanhomhata.
He said the interruption occurred at a very inopportune time because the Orano desalination plant is currently offline for scheduled maintenance.
He added that the maintenance on the desalination plant, which began on Monday, is set to continue for five days.
Ndamanhomhata said that the necessary repair work could be completed within 24 hours.
“We are dealing with an emergency situation, and every effort is being made to restore normal water supply as swiftly as possible,” he said.
He stated that NamWater is working in close collaboration with the Municipality of Swakopmund to manage the crisis and keep the public updated on developments.
On Wednesday morning, the spokesperson of the Swakopmund municipality, Linda Mupupa in an update statement, said that it is expected that the water supply to the coastal town would be restored at about midday.
“The team is very nearly done with the repairs. They are only tightening the final bolts before the pipe will be refilled from Omdel,” she said.
In a later update, Mupupa said that the water supply was fully restored before the clock struck noon and that no water interruptions were observed.
Mupupa said that the warning on Tuesday evening was issued as a cautionary measure to prevent the reservoirs feeding Swakopmund from running dry.
