Niël Terblanché
Water supply interruptions in Walvis Bay have continued into this week, with the national utility NamWater confirming a third power outage in the Kuiseb area on Sunday afternoon.
In a statement issued on Monday, NamWater’s spokesperson, Lot Ndamanomhata said the latest disruption was due to a broken power cable near High Dune.
“Erongo RED isolated the affected section and rerouted power from another substation, restoring electricity to the area at 20:30,” he said.
According to Ndamanomhata, once electricity was restored, efforts began to restart the boreholes near High Dune.
He, however, added that not all boreholes could be brought back online due to access problems caused by the flowing Kuiseb River.
“Our team is closely monitoring the river’s flow and will restart the remaining boreholes as soon as conditions allow,” he said.
The latest interruption follows electricity supply issues reported last week after heavy rains caused flooding across all major coastal towns.
The downpour affected both the water supply and municipal services, with Walvis Bay experiencing particular difficulties.
Ndamanomhata previously confirmed that power failures within the Erongo RED network disrupted NamWater’s capacity to pump water from the Kuiseb River basin, which supplies most of Walvis Bay.
“All NamWater’s boreholes are currently without power. The water supply will be limited until electricity is restored,” he said at the time.
The disruption has also led to a wider sanitation problem.
Residents from areas such as Kuisebmond, Narraville and Lagoon have reported sewage backups and standing pools of wastewater due to longstanding issues with poor drainage infrastructure.
The recent rains have only worsened the situation, raising concerns over public health.
Ndamanomhata urged Walvis Bay residents to use water sparingly while the utility works to restore full supply.
“We are doing all we can to manage the situation, but we ask the public to assist by conserving water,” he said.
