When we poison our water, we poison our future

Namibia cannot call itself a developing nation while allowing its most precious resource to become a dumping ground

There are some national crises that announce themselves with sirens, headlines and emergency meetings.

Then there are the crises that creep up quietly, year after year, until one morning we discover that fixing them will cost vastly more than preventing them ever would have.

Namibia’s water and waste crisis belongs in the second category.

The condition of Goreangab Dam should therefore not simply be treated as another environmental story. Nor should the deterioration of Swakoppoort Dam be regarded as a technical matter for NamWater, municipal engineers or environmental officials to debate in conference rooms.

It is a national warning.

Goreangab was once a freshwater source for Windhoek. Today, its pollution is so serious that it has long ceased to be a conventional source of potable water.

Research has documented faecal contamination, sewage-related pollution, heavy metals and excessive nutrients in the dam. The City of Windhoek has itself acknowledged sewage-related contamination in the area.

That alone should shame us.

But what is more alarming is what happens downstream.

The Swakoppoort Dam forms part of the three-dam system serving central Namibia. Water from Swakoppoort can be transferred to Von Bach, from where it contributes to the water supply system serving Windhoek and other users.

NamWater identifies Swakoppoort, Omatako and Von Bach as the central area’s integrated dam system.

Yet NamWater’s own reporting says Swakoppoort is currently hypereutrophic – a condition associated with excessive nutrients, algae blooms and serious water-quality challenges.

The corporation specifically identifies pollution in the dam’s catchment, including Windhoek, as an operational challenge.

This is not alarmism.

It is an official warning.

And it has been warning us for years.

A government water-supply investigation identified wastewater treatment plants, stormwater runoff and industrial sources in the Windhoek and Okahandja areas as pollution sources contributing nutrients to the Swakoppoort catchment.

It specifically listed the Okahandja wastewater treatment plant and stormwater runoff among the identified pollution sources.

Another national water-management document states bluntly that wastewater runoff from Windhoek and Okahandja ends up in the Swakoppoort Dam catchment and that long-term deterioration of water quality has been reported.

So the issue before Namibia is not whether pollution exists.

The issue is why we have tolerated it for so long.

We are treating water as if we have an endless supply

We live in one of the driest countries in the world.

NamWater says only about two percent of rainfall becomes surface runoff in Namibia, while evaporation accounts for the overwhelming majority. Our rivers are mostly ephemeral, and much of our water infrastructure exists to capture precious water when it does arrive.

Every drop therefore matters.

Yet we continue to behave as though water is an inconvenience rather than an existential national asset.

We allow sewage infrastructure to age.

We allow wastewater systems to operate beyond their intended capacity.

We allow stormwater and sewage to become mixed.

We allow informal settlements to grow without adequate sanitation.

We allow rubbish to accumulate in open spaces.

We allow illegal dumping to become normal.

Then, when the consequences arrive, we call them “service delivery challenges”.

They are more than that.

They are failures of national planning.

Okahandja should be a warning, not an example

Drive through Okahandja and the waste problem is difficult to miss.

The municipality itself acknowledged in 2025 that widespread dumping and delayed services had become serious concerns, with waste appearing on street corners and open spaces.

Residents have also complained for years about conditions around the town’s dumpsite.

This is not merely about whether somebody threw a plastic bag onto the side of the road.

It is about the entire chain of waste management.

Where does household waste go?

How often is it collected?

Where is it transported?

How is it contained?

What happens to hazardous waste?

What happens when the landfill reaches capacity?

What prevents contaminated runoff from entering watercourses?

Who monitors the system?

And, most importantly, who is held accountable when it fails?

These questions cannot be answered by telling citizens not to litter.

Public behaviour matters. But municipal infrastructure matters too.

A citizen cannot responsibly dispose of waste if there is nowhere accessible, affordable and reliable to dispose of it.

And Rundu is not an exception

Rundu provides another uncomfortable example.

In 2025, residents and business owners complained that parts of the town were effectively becoming dumping grounds, including areas along Maria Mwengere Road and Riverside.

The town has faced waste-management problems for years, with previous reporting documenting illegal dumping and inadequate collection capacity.

The environmental stakes in Rundu are particularly obvious because the town sits beside the Okavango River.

The contradiction should be impossible to ignore.

We build towns next to precious water resources and then struggle to prevent sewage and solid waste from entering the very environments that sustain those towns.

Katima Mulilo provides another warning.

In 2025, the town’s main sewage pump failed, prompting authorities to warn of potentially severe sewage overflows.

Officials said the sewerage infrastructure had been designed for a population of about 8 000 while the town’s population had grown to more than 46 000.

That is not a minor maintenance problem.

That is infrastructure planning falling dramatically behind demographic reality.

This is the national pattern

Look at Windhoek.

Look at Okahandja.

Look at Rundu.

Look at Katima Mulilo.

Look at the complaints emerging from other municipalities.

The locations differ. The underlying problem is remarkably similar.

Population grows.

Informal settlements expand.

Waste increases.

Sewerage networks age.

Treatment capacity struggles to keep up.

Municipal finances become strained.

Maintenance is deferred.

Infrastructure fails.

Waste enters the environment.

Then government responds to the crisis instead of preventing it.

We cannot continue like this.

Namibia already has a National Solid Waste Management Strategy whose vision is for the country to become a continental leader in solid waste management by 2028.

Its objectives include formalised waste collection in populated areas, stronger institutional capacity, expanded recycling and improved municipal disposal.

The question is not whether Namibia has plans.

The question is whether we are implementing them with the urgency they deserve.

We need a national water and waste emergency plan

Namibia needs to stop treating wastewater, sewage and solid waste as separate municipal problems.

They are connected.

They form part of one environmental system.

The national government, municipalities, NamWater, industries, regional councils and communities need a single, basin-wide approach to protecting water resources.

First, every major wastewater treatment plant must be independently assessed for capacity, condition and compliance.

Second, the country needs a transparent national register of sewage spills, treatment failures and major pollution incidents.

Third, the Swakoppoort catchment requires continuous water-quality monitoring, with results published publicly.

Fourth, the sources of pollution entering the catchment must be identified and quantified. That includes municipal wastewater, stormwater, industrial effluent, agricultural runoff and informal-settlement sanitation.

Fifth, ageing sewerage systems must move from emergency repair to planned replacement.

Sixth, municipalities must be required to maintain credible waste-management plans, with measurable targets and consequences for persistent failure.

And seventh, communities must be brought into the solution.

Education is important.

Enforcement is important.

But infrastructure is indispensable.

You cannot lecture a growing population about responsible waste disposal while providing inadequate collection and disposal facilities.

This will cost money

Yes.

Fixing Namibia’s wastewater and waste infrastructure will cost billions.

But so will failing to fix it.

Polluted dams require more sophisticated treatment.

More algae means more treatment challenges.

More contamination means more monitoring.

More infrastructure failures mean emergency interventions.

Polluted ecosystems require rehabilitation.

And polluted water creates health and economic risks that ultimately land on the taxpayer.

NamWater has already identified the need for enhanced treatment interventions for Swakoppoort and Von Bach, including a dedicated consultancy for enhanced treatment.

The real question is therefore not whether Namibia can afford to invest in water infrastructure.

The question is whether Namibia can afford not to.

We cannot.

Water must become a national security issue

We routinely speak about energy security.

We speak about food security.

We speak about economic diversification.

We speak about national security.

Water belongs in the same conversation.

Without water, there is no mining.

There is no agriculture.

There is no manufacturing.

There is no tourism.

There is no meaningful urban expansion.

There is no healthy population.

There is no development.

Water is not simply another line item in a municipal budget.

It is the foundation upon which every other ambition rests.

That is why the deterioration of Goreangab and Swakoppoort should trigger a national conversation of the highest order.

And that conversation must go beyond blaming citizens.

It must also go beyond blaming municipalities.

We need to confront the institutional question: Who is ultimately responsible for protecting Namibia’s water resources, and what happens when everyone is responsible but nobody is accountable?

The answer cannot be another committee.

It cannot be another workshop.

It cannot be another five-year plan gathering dust.

Namibia needs action.

We need to clean the towns.

We need to fix the sewage systems.

We need to upgrade wastewater treatment plants.

We need to police industrial discharge.

We need to stop illegal dumping.

We need to protect river catchments.

We need to monitor our dams relentlessly.

And we need to tell the public the truth about the condition of our water.

Because the greatest danger is not that Namibia has a water problem.

The greatest danger is that we know we have one and continue behaving as though we have time.

We may not.

Goreangab is the warning.

Swakoppoort is the alarm.

The rubbish piling up in Okahandja, Rundu and elsewhere is part of the same national story.

We should listen before the bill arrives.

Because by then, we may discover that the resource we treated as though it were disposable is the one thing we can never replace.

Water is life. Waste is not merely ugliness. And pollution is not somebody else’s problem.

It is a national responsibility.

And Namibia needs to start acting like it.