Namibia Water Corporation

About the Utility

Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater) supplies potable, untreated and desalinated water, together with irrigation water, from a national network of dams, boreholes, canals, reservoirs and pipelines. It reports sales as treated, desalinated and irrigation water and is organised in regional business units, Central, Coastal, North and South. Tariffs depend on government approval: proposed increases go to Cabinet through the line ministry, and by 2024/25 none had been approved for five consecutive years, with mines the exception. NamWater also supplies individual customers directly, a group that grew to 45,000 by 2021. Its balanced scorecard tracks water quality, losses and financial health against explicit targets.

Water System

NamWater draws on surface water held in dams and on groundwater from several hundred boreholes. Storage is the system’s swing factor, since levels in the three-dam system fell steeply over one year, with heavy evaporation losses, and in July 2024 the Central Area of Namibia dams held only 19.2% of capacity even though the national bulletin total stood at 53.5%. Desalination is growing in importance, with desalinated sales up 14% in 2024/25, while treated volumes were unchanged and irrigation sales fell. NamWater reports that its developed resources exceed current demand of 194 Mm³ a year.

Infrastructure & Performance

Operational reliability has improved: in 2024/25 unplanned interruptions stayed within their annual limit and major system failures came in well below target, continuing a decline from earlier years; pipe breaks and power outages were the causes recorded the year before. Losses and water quality remain the weak points: non-revenue water in closed systems was 10.9%, marginally above its benchmark target, having exceeded benchmark in every year reported. Water quality compliance has likewise fallen just short of its 95% target throughout. The bulk network combines pipelines, open canals, reservoirs and 19 dams.

Investment & Priorities

Investment is constrained by tariffs that, except for mines, have not been raised for five consecutive years: in 2024/25 average tariffs fell below average costs and the corporation recorded a net deficit. Capital expenditure nonetheless rose to N$242 million. NamWater has no external borrowings and holds approved unutilised facilities, while two KfW loans of Euro 50 million and Euro 75 million were agreed to fund the replacement of critical supply mains to Swakopmund and rural and northern supply schemes. New treatment capacity at Rundu and Oshakati was designed in 2022.

Sustainability & Resilience

Resilience depends on balancing storage, groundwater and desalination through drought cycles. Surface storage is exposed to evaporation, which removed 16.835 Mm³ from the three-dam system in a single year; the dams have relied on floods to recover after long dry spells. Large regional storage such as Neckartal Dam stood well above the national average in the same July bulletin. Energy is a further exposure: renewables supplied less than 1% of NamWater’s energy in 2024/25, while at least half of its pump stations had been optimised.

Key Challenges

1. Closing the gap between average tariffs and average costs after five years without an approved increase.
2. Reducing non-revenue water in closed systems to its benchmark target.
3. Raising water quality compliance to the 95% target.
4. Protecting supply in the central area when dam storage falls low.
5. Delivering financed main replacement and planned treatment upgrades.

Major Projects