The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mariental Municipality in the Hardap Region, Paulus Nghiwilepo, has urged the town’s residents to be patient while the water shortage situation is being addressed with urgency.
The town has been experiencing a shortage of potable water since Monday, following a notice from Namwater that the extraction of water from the town reservoir and main water pipeline feeding Mariental had increased dramatically in recent days, to the point where the power plant could not keep up with demand.
Nghiwilepo upon enquiry on Wednesday told Nampa that NamWater further informed him that the water purification process includes filtration of raw water through sand filters and that one of the sand filters at the Hardap purification plant is not operational due to incorrectly delivered filtered sand.
“The supplier is busy rectifying this. We are also waiting on a few filter nozzles from another supplier for the filter. As a result, the purification plant’s output has been reduced. Namwater anticipates delivery of both parts in mid-January 2023,” he said
NamWater, he said is making interim plans to enable the second filter to supplement the water supply, and that the outlet to the town will be closed from 21h00 to 05h00 in order to increase the level of the Mariental terminal reservoir by avoiding night flows.
“The reservoir will be closed once the reservoir level has recovered to a safe level,” he said.
The CEO also urged residents to be patient, stating that the Municipality will use all available resources to ensure that no single resident goes without water in areas where there is no water at all.
“Since being confronted with the challenge at the beginning of the week, we have been providing water and will continue to do so until the matter is resolved. We understand the inconvenience, especially at this time of the year, but we are addressing the issue as soon as possible,” he said.
He urged residents who are experiencing water problems to notify the municipality as soon as possible so that they can be attended to.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
