Dyakugha backs Kavango Link, with conditions

Ombudsman Basilius Dyakugha, speaking in his personal capacity, has backed the proposed NamWater Kavango Link project as a potential answer to Namibia’s growing water needs.

The N$7 billion proposed project is a Cabinet-approved initiative seeking to establish bulk water infrastructure to secure a long-term water supply for central Namibia.

Dyakugha, however, argued that the project should prioritise harvesting water during high-flow periods and stressed that it requires proper feasibility studies.

“This country is really getting thinner and thinner on water, and in the whole world water now is the commodity number one,” he said in an interview on The Agenda.

He warned that Namibia could eventually have to rely on other countries for its survival if it fails to secure adequate water supplies.

Against this backdrop, Dyakugha said he believed the Kavango Link could be considered but suggested water should preferably be harvested during periods when the river has high flows and stored for use during drier periods.

“I think what they want to do is to harvest the water during flood time, or floodplain season, because that’s the time when we have a lot of water along that part of the country,” he said.

Seasonal harvesting

The project has faced strong opposition from some communities in Kavango East and Kavango West, with concerns raised about the sustainability of the Kavango River and the diversion of water to central towns while communities in the region continue to grapple with inadequate access to water.

While acknowledging these concerns, Dyakugha said Namibia’s worsening water situation is too serious to ignore.

He suggested that water could be channelled into inland reservoirs.

“If that is the case, then I don’t see any problem for us as a nation to do that,” he said.

However, he distinguished seasonal harvesting from the possibility of pumping water from the Kavango throughout the year, saying the latter would require further investigation.

“The second option now, which the people are thinking is what is going to happen, of actually pumping water constantly throughout the year, I think NamWater has to do a proper feasibility study to say where exactly will it be sustainable,” Dyakugha said.

He also suggested that the location of the extraction point could influence the sustainability of the project.

Dyakugha said another river joins the Kavango further downstream and argued that experts could investigate whether extracting water after that confluence would be more acceptable because of the additional water flow.

He noted that water availability varies and that the river has less water during summer in some areas, reinforcing his call for scientists to determine the way forward.

“That’s how the experts in water management should actually look at these things, in my opinion,” he said.

NamWater spokesperson Lot Ndamanomhata told this publication last week that stakeholder consultations on the proposed project are still ongoing. He said the utility would pronounce itself on the outcomes of the consultation process and the way forward once the process has been completed.