The Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) has commissioned a reservoir as well as a groundwater defluorination plant in Eenhana, in the Ohangwena region of Namibia. The entire water supply project cost more than US $2m. The government received a grant of US$380,600 from Germany via the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR). The 5000m3 reservoir will store water pumped from the water table, defluorinated in the new plant.
According to Namibia’s Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Calle Schlettwein, the boreholes are 350m deep. “After the work was completed, we found that the level of fluoride in the water, between 3.0 and 4.0mg per litre, was too high to be acceptable,” he said.
It has been established that excess fluoride causes, among other things, conditions ranging from benign dental fluorosis to disabling bone fluorosis.
Groundwater defluorination plant in Eenhana
NamWater has also provided Eenhana with brine drainage basins and new pumps to improve the population’s drinking water supply. Prior to this project, NamWater supplied a 750m3 reservoir in Eenhana from the Oshakati drinking water plant in the Oshana region. The quantity of water was insufficient to meet households demand.
The Oshakati plant treats water from the Calueque dam on the Cunene River in Angola. The level of the reservoir has fallen sharply in recent years due to the Drought.
