Water supply and sanitation in Namibia

Water supply and sanitation in Namibia

Data
Water coverage (broad definition)	(improved water source) Total: 91%; Urban: 98%; Rural: 85% (2015)[1]
Sanitation coverage (broad definition)	(improved sanitation) Total: 34%; Urban: 54%; Rural: 17% (2015)[1]
Continuity of supply	mostly continuous
Average urban water use (L/person/day)	163 (2010 in Windhoek)
Average urban water and sanitation tariff (US$/m3)	0.92 (2016 in Windhoek for the first consumption block for residential users)
Share of household metering	very high
Annual investment in WSS	80 US$ per capita
Institutions
Decentralization to municipalities	Complete
National water and sanitation company	NamWater
Responsibility for policy setting	Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry through its Department of Water Affairs
Sector law	Water Resources Management Act, 2013 (No. 11 of 2013)[2]
No. of urban service providers	1 Bulk Water Supply Company (NamWater), 13 cities and 26 towns

Namibia is an arid country that is regularly afflicted by droughts. Large rivers flow only along its northern and southern borders, but they are far from the population centers. They are also far from the country's mines, which are large water users. In order to confront this challenge, the country has built dams to capture the flow from ephemeral rivers, constructed pipelines to transport water over large distances, pioneered potable water reuse in its capital Windhoek located in the central part of Namibia, and built Sub-Saharan Africa's first large seawater desalination plant to supply a uranium mine and the city of Swakopmund with water. A large scheme to bring water from the Okavango River in the North to Windhoek, the Eastern National Water Carrier, was only partially completed during the 1980s.

Most urban residents have access to drinking water supply, but access lags behind in rural areas. Access to sanitation also considerably lags behind access to drinking water supply. The bulk water supply infrastructure is owned by NamWater, a public entity operating under commercial principles. It sells water to the mining companies, as well as to the municipalities which in turn sell it to urban residents and businesses.