Ohangwena tackles water scarcity
To address water woes in the region, Ohangwena has initiated an infrastructural project with the assistance of development partners to provide potable water to communities.
Ohangwena is battling with the provision of water to its inhabitants, particularly in the Okongo, Oshikunde, Epembe and Omundaungilo constituencies.
Communities in the eastern part depend solely on boreholes, as there is no water pipeline in that part of the region.
To respond to the challenge of water scarcity, four deep boreholes were drilled and installed tap water from the Ohangwena aquifer to Oshangu, Omunyanghwe, Eexwa and Omulondo villages.
“These boreholes are reticulating water to the surrounding villages in the radius of 10 km,” said the governor, Walde Ndevashiya, in
his state of the regions address.
NamWater constructed a five-megalitre reservoir and a defluoridation plant at Eenhana at a cost of N$30 million.
This project is enabling Eenhana to draw water from Ohangwena Aquifer Two and will alleviate the water problems that the town and surrounding villages have been experiencing in the past.
A 45-kilometre pipeline was installed in nine constituencies across the region at the cost of N$3.4 million and 293 individual households were connected.
Another 35 water points were installed at various schools through the Covid-19 school water provision project in the region.
Under the current financial year, N$10 million has been secured for the construction of rural pipelines in the villages across the line.
The governor said the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform has securedfundingfromtheAfricanDevelopment Bank, of which part of the funding will be used to develop the Ohangwena Aquifer Two and enable distribution of potable water for humans, animals as well as agriculture.
In addition to the water shortages, poor sanitation continues to cause waterborne diseases; however, the region is striving to provide clean water and proper sanitation to its people. To address the problem, the region has constructed 120 toilets and a further 1 863 were constructed by the community to avoid open defecation. - nashipala@nepc.com.na