At the beginning of April 2019, the country’s dams held 31.1 percent of their capacity, NamWater has said.

Currently, there are 216,460 million cubic metres of water left in all dams with the largest dam, the Hardap Dam in Mariental, holding 73,903 million cubic metres as of Monday.

Last year during this period, dams were 41 percent full, holding 293,036 million cubic metres of water. The Hardap Dam can store up to 294,593 million cubic metres of water, meaning that the available water in all the country’s dams would not fill it.

When full, all the 17 dams in the country can store 695,984 million cubic metres of water.

Meanwhile, water has been transferred from Omatako and Swakoppoort dams to Von Bach Dam.

Farmers have been forced to drastically reduce their herds, due to shortage of grazing, an issue that is further compounded by the little water left in the country and the fact that water levels in boreholes in some areas are very low.

Meatco is constantly adapting to meet the City of Windhoek’s proposed water saving targets. The company is taking the necessary steps to reduce water use on a continuous basis, while still complying with EU hygiene regulations without compromising on production capacity and quality.

The saving targets, as set, are being achieved but the emphasis is to make sure that the wastage of water is minimised.

On 1 April 2019, NamWater announced the following percentages for the different dams and in brackets are the percentages of last year during this period:

Swakoppoort Dam 16.7% (36.8%)

Von Bach Dam 45.3% (52.7%)

Omatako Dam 0.2% (10.0%)

SUBTOTAL CENTRAL 20.8% (34.1%)

Friedenau Dam 29.0% (27.1%)

Goreangab Dam 100.2% (101.0%)

SUBTOTAL WINDHOEK 54.0% (53.0%)

Otjivero Dam 3.7% (10.2%)

Otjivero Silt Dam 0.0% (0.0%)

Tilda-Viljoen Dam 4.1% (34.2%)

Daan-Viljoen Dam 2.1% (24.2%)

SUBTOTAL GOBABIS 2.2% (7.9%)

Hardap Dam 25.1% (46.4%)

Naute Dam 95.7% (71.1%)

Oanob Dam 52.3% (66.8%)

Dreihuk Dam 0.8% (8.1%)

Bondels Dam 0.0% (0.0%)

SUBTOTAL SOUTH 40.1% (51.4%)

Olushandja Dam 14.7% (30.2%)

Omaruru Delta Dam 0.0% (0.0%)

Omatjenne Dam 0.0% (0.0%)

Omatako Dam, Ovitoto Namibia

Avis Dam, Windhoek Namibia