Water restrictions in place again

The City of Windhoek has reinstated water restrictions after its supply dams received only a quarter of the expected inflow in the past rainy season.Windhoek residents will be forced to cut their water use by 10%, the municipality announced this week.NamWater recently announced that the storage dams supplying water to central Namibia received only 24.91% of the average expected inflow.This left the municipality with no choice but to change its water status from Category B (supply alert) to Category C (water scarcity).This comes a little more than a year after the City relaxed severe water restrictions in June last year following a good rainy season.The municipality had been implementing Category E (critical) water restrictions, which required 20% water savings, for a year and half.Category C has a mandatory 10% savings target. The City thanked residents for their “continuous efforts to use water wisely and for the savings achieved thus far, especially in the 2017/18 season when an average saving of 7.69% was achieved against the target of 5%.”NamWater's weekly dam bulletin, issued on Monday, showed that the Swakoppoort Dam is only 33.5% full, compared to 48.9% last season. The level of the Von Bach Dam is at 52.3%, compared to 68.6% last season. The Omatako Dam is at 1.1%, compared to 24.6% last season. Water transfers from Swakoppoort to Von Bach started in March, and transfers from Omatako to Von Bach began in February. The total level of the three dams stands at 30.2%, compared to 48.1% at the same time last year. The City urged residents to comply with the Category C water savings target and said weekly water-use updates would be issued. The restrictions allow lawns to be watered twice a week. Trees, shrubs and perennial plants may also be watered twice a week, but by hand only. Flowers, vegetables and community gardens too may be watered by hand only, not with sprinkler systems.No watering may take place between 09:00 and 18:00 in summer and between 10:00 and 16:00 in winter. Sports fields and public gardens must be watered with semi-purified water only. The restrictions include a ban on washing cars with hosepipes at home. Buckets may be used to wash cars. Commercial carwash operations are limited to 30 litres per car. The City urges residents to keep a close eye on their water consumption in order to quickly detect water leaks, and to limit consumption to 90 litres per person per day. JANA-MARI SMITH

Water restrictions in place again

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-16

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Water restrictions in place again

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-16

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