Namibia: Independent UN expert urges nation to expand access to sanitation services

Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque, United Nations independent expert on the right to water and sanitation paid a week-long visit to Namibia. She noted that the country has over the past 20 years achieved significant progress in extending its water network across the country. Ms. De Albuquerque urged the Government to make similar efforts to ensure that proper sanitation is available to more people in the country. She stressed that access to water and sanitation are human rights, and while that did not mean that the two services must be offered free of charge, it meant that systems must be in place to ensure availability to those who face economic barriers to access. Water points are still far away from households and water remains too expensive. She added that community participation in the design and implementation of water and sanitation projects was indispensable.

Ms. De Albuquerque will prepare a report to be presented at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next year, describing her main findings and providing recommendations.

Source: UN News Service / allAfrica.com, 11 July 2011

Namibia: Namibians to observe Third Global Handwashing Day 15 October 2010

Every year, more than three-comma-five million children worldwide do not live to celebrate their 5th birthday because of diarrhoea and pneumonia.

In Namibia, of the children who die before their fifth birthday, over 58 per cent die because of pneumonia and diarrhoea due to poor sanitation.

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, says in a statement that there are no hand washing facilities in 34 per cent of Namibian schools, while 35 per cent of schools have no toilets.

Two years ago, the Health Ministry, the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKlein and UNICEF signed a memorandum of understanding to kick-start the implementation of the National Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion Campaign in Namibia.

The observance of Global Handwashing Day today is part of that initiative.

Source: NBC News, 13 October 2010

More news on Global Handwashing Day 2010

Namibia: Flying toilets’ days numbered

Members of the Tuahangana Housing Group (THG) dug trenches ahead of laying pipes for sewerage in their area over the weekend.

The 250-member group from Greenwell Matongo in Katutura has collected over N$380 000 for the pipes, manhole covers and grids to cover the entire erf 3219.

THG bought erf 3219, which measures 66 612 square metres in 1998.

The erf was informally subdivided by a land-surveying company to accommodate 250 households – in proportion to the number of members of the group.

Since 1998, members have had no standardised ablution facilities and often were forced to resort to the use of ‘flying toilets’ (plastic bags).

An elated Anna Iyambo, the group chairperson, when visited by New Era on Sunday morning was hard at work with members of her group digging trenches.

She said they intend to finish by month-end, after which contractors would lay the pipes.

“We want to move ahead and bring this housing group to some form of dignified standard for our residents.”

Iyambo said next in line is the electricity connection. The group has already brought the matter to the attention of the Windhoek Municipality.

Iyambo said members of the housing group are poor and appealed for help. “Any help would be greatly appreciated,” she said.

Despite its name which means unity, THG continues to show clear signs of disunity, with constant bickering among its members. Some members of the low-cost housing group accused Iyambo of incompetence and mismanagement of funds of the low-cost housing initiative.

So serious has the problem become that the matter has enjoyed the attention of the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development since 2008.

Source: John Ekongo, New Era / allAfrica.com, 10 August 2010

Namibia: Cabinet approves water resources management bill

Cabinet has in principle approved the Water Resources Management Bill of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, and directed the Cabinet Committee on Legislation to scrutinise and finalise the Bill before it is tabled in the National Assembly during 2010.

Soon after the implementation of the Water Resources Management Act during December 2004 it was realised that certain technicalities hampered the practical implementation thereof.

Legal experts were of the opinion that it would be extremely cumbersome to make amendments to the Act. The Ministry was therefore advised to revise and rewrite the whole Water Resources Management Act of 2004.

The Water Resources Management Bill acknowledges water as a scare and unevenly distributed natural resource in Namibia and that water belongs to the people and should be harmoniously shared between them and the environment.

Since water is a finite resource with an economic value, it must be used and managed in an integrated and sustainable manner. The Bill recognises the need to delegate the functions to regional or basin level to enable people at grassroots level, especially women, to effectively participate in its management.

The draft Bill, therefore, seeks to bring gender issues up front, giving them the prominence they deserve.

Source: The Namibian, 13 July 2010

Namibia: government moves closer to subsidising water for the poor

A group of experts has presented findings on possible future subsidisation of water tariffs for poor households, a plan that was mulled some three years ago.

Although thousands of water points have been set up in rural areas, many households had their taps disconnected because they couldn’t afford to pay for the water they and their livestock consumed.

Burgert Gildenhuys [of BC Gildenhuys & Associates] last week presented the findings of his team and showed that according to statistics Namibia had 221 061 rural households of which 84 420 households are regarded as poor.

The highest number of poor households is in the Kavango and Ohangwena regions. Both regions have about 16 000 poor households.

Subsidising the over 84 000 households could cost the taxpayer up to N$28,7 million a year.

However, a subsidy system, which would include annual registration of such households and the numbers of their livestock, would become “institutionally so complicated and costly that successful implementation is compromised,” Gildenhuys wrote in the study.

About 56 per cent of water used in Namibia is drawn from dams, rivers and so-called unconventional sources while the remaining 44 per cent is abstracted from groundwater sources, according to resource analysts.

The study recommended that if rural communities are not able to maintain or operate water supply systems on a sustainable basis, the services can be outsourced to SMEs or NGOs, as part of an agreement between the government, community and technical support service provider.

Such an arrangement is expected to improve the situation and contribute to improved cost recovery and service delivery.

Since there is a great variation in conditions and income levels throughout Namibia, the experts recommended that a system for the individual assessment of the need for rebates, cross-subsidies and subsidies be worked out.

“Affordability of services by the community, integrated with cost recovery, should constitute a key principle and be adhered to,” the study recommended.

At the same time, turning off water supply to a water point or branch line to enforce cost recovery should not be used.

Opening the workshop, Agriculture Minister John Mutorwa said the envisaged water supply subsidy scheme should “guarantee sustainability of water supply services and accessibility of potable water to households which cannot afford to contribute towards the full cost of water supply services.”

However, cost recovery of water tariffs was also important, Mutorwa said.

Back in November 2007, the former Minister of Agriculture, Dr Nickey Iyambo, told reporters that water costs might be subsidised by Government for poor Namibians in urban and rural areas once the third National Development Plan (NDP3) was implemented.

Speaking then at a consultative conference on the NDP3, Iyambo said his Ministry had recommended that N$30 million a year be allocated to subsidise water payments for poor people living in the informal areas of proclaimed villages and towns.

“Another recommendation is to subsidise the cost of water with N$80 million in unproclaimed (rural) areas of the country each year, coming to N$400 million during the entire NDP3 period between 2008 to 2012.

However, the Ministry did not have the money, but wanted to hold an investor conference after the NDP 3 was finalised,” Iyambo said in 2007. To date this has not happened.

Related news: Catherine Sasman, Namibia: a case for rural water subsidies, New Era / allAfrica.com, 08 Jun 2010

Source: Brigitte Weidlich, The Namibian / allAfrica.com, 14 Jun 2010

Africa: project helps local governments contribute to water and sanitation MDGs

A two-year project launched in March 2010 is helping local governments in 15 African countries contribute to the achievement of the Water and Sanitation Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

United Cities and Local Governments for Africa (UCLGA) and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability – Africa are partners in the European Commission (EC) funded project ‘Local Initiatives in Promotion of the Attainment of Water and Sanitation Millennium Development Goals’

The project is taking place in 15 countries within Sub-Saharan Africa: Benin, Bostwana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which together represent over 383 million citizens.

The main aim of this project is to ensure that the role of local authorities in the delivery of the water and sanitation MDGs is recognized and to enhance the capacity of local authorities to fulfill that role through sharing of knowledge and innovative practices.

It further aims to increase national-local dialogue regarding water and sanitation issues. It is hoped that utilizing the local authorities as an entry point will ensure adoption of improved water and sanitation delivery that will directly benefit local communities.

The national local government associations taking part in the project are members of the UCLGA’s Water and Sanitation Focal Point Network (FPN). UCLGA plans to hold the inaugural FPN Training workshop in August 2010 in Pretoria, South Africa.

The project’s main activities include:

• Preparation of a Baseline study detailing the role of local governments in water and sanitation service provision in the target countries
• Supporting the development of 15 in-country policy position papers articulating the role of municipalities in the delivery of the MDGs
• Knowledge sharing and capacity building workshops and seminars aimed at enhancing the capacity of the Focal Point Network & national associations through the development of in-country Action Plans
• Documentation and sharing of innovative service delivery good practices, particularly relating to the testing of the eWISA Municipal Assistant in 3 pilot sites
• Lobby and advocacy engagements with relevant sector stakeholders as a cross-cutting activity

The project believes that by lobbying that national departments responsible for water and sanitation service delivery and the attainment of the MDGs, based on well-informed and articulate policy positions, greater consideration will given by the water sector in the 15 target countries to the role and issues of local government in the provision of water and sanitation services to communities.

It is also anticipated that through the development and publication of in-country policy position papers, and based on successful lobby and advocacy engagements, the role of local authorities in the delivery of water and sanitation MDGs will be clearly articulated in national policies and strategies to the benefit of local communities.

Another output of significant anticipated impact is the adoption of clear plans towards the attainment of water and sanitation MDGs by 25% of local authorities in the 15 target countries. A key thrust of the project will be towards the decentralisation of service delivery to the local level. As a result, ICLEI Africa, as project partner will be working closely with national associations and their Focal Points to promote the adoption of local plans that spell out the road towards the attainment of the water and sanitation MDGs.

While a key thrust of this project will be on policy development, a second key focus will be on local, on-the-ground impact by adopting knowledge sharing and capacity enhancement approaches. This should lead to the adoption of improved innovative water and sanitation service delivery approaches and practices by local authorities. Key project documentation will include the results from the piloting of the e-Wisa Municipal Assistant and the regular documentation and dissemination of good practice. In addition, the Focal Point Network will provide a learning platform from which to promote good practices.

Contact: Samuel Kaninda, MDGs Project Coordinator, UCLGA, South Africa, e-mail:  skaninda@uclgafrica.org

Web sites : www.uclgafrica.org and www.iclei.org/africa

Read the project media release (12 March 2010)

Namibia: Locally invented toilet to improve lives of millions

In a global first, German-born Peter Arndt from the Clay House Project in Otjiwarongo, Namibia has invented a new dry toilet technology which has the potential to drastically improve the lives of not only Namibians, but millions of people in the world.

One of the few taboo subjects left in the world, the toilet nevertheless sits at the centre of a global crisis in which it is estimated that at least 2,6 billion people’s lives are hugely impacted by a lack of access to proper toilet facilities.

But now, the newly improved locally produced Otji toilet, a dry degradation toilet which separates liquids from solids through a specially designed toilet bowl invented by Arndt, is set to make a real, global difference.

Arndt, the manager of the Clay House Project in Otjiwarongo, and the inventor of the Otji toilet and a new urine-diversion toilet bowl, travelled to Haiti recently to share the technology of the dry sanitation system, a subject he is passionate about and which he believes can not only improve, but save, millions of lives.

Arndt, a mechanic and social worker, has lived and worked at the Clay House Project since 2001. Together with the Clay House Trust, German government funding and constant expert exchange with his colleagues in the EcoSur network, he has focused on assisting the poor in Namibia through low-cost housing and other projects.

On his arrival in Namibia, he noted that Namibia is burdened with a “permanent disaster of poverty and drought”.

He realised that by addressing the scarcity and high cost of water for the poor, the Clay House Project had the potential of changing lives.

It is estimated that 60 per cent of all rural diseases are caused by poor hygiene from waterborne diseases, mainly due to a lack of proper toilet facilities. Moreover, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 751 million people share toilets with other households or only use public facilities. More than 1,1 billion people still defecate in open areas, in rivers or near areas where children play and food is cooked. The WHO reports that in Africa, 115 people die every hour from diseases linked to poor sanitation, poor hygiene and contaminated water.

The World Toilet Organisation (WTO) recently noted that “in future, the flush toilet will become extinct. It makes no sense to flush excreta with precious drinking water …” a statement Arndt wholeheartedly agrees with.

“The flush toilet is outdated. It does not make sense to flush away all that money,” he says.

Although for the middle and upper classes flush toilets might seem the norm, Arndt says that in fact, “worldwide, flush toilets are not the norm. Fifty percent of people do not have it, and will never have it.”

In Europe the dry toilet movement is catching on. Arndt says the perception of dry toilets as smelly pit latrines is rapidly changing.

“Flush toilets are very expensive. We should not look at the ordinary pit latrine as a smelly place. The advanced dry toilet systems have no link to the old pit latrine.”

Arndt developed and produced the Otji toilet, a patented name and product of Namibia, in 2002.

The Otji toilet was a new step in dry sanitation technology, produced from cheap, locally available resources and largely maintenance free. It consists of a dry toilet in a specially designed framework cabin made of locally and cheaply available resources. Two containers are installed underground in a concrete lined cavity. What makes the system unique, and extremely hygienic and efficient, is the ventilation system invented by Arndt, which ensures that the liquid is filtrated into the ground and the solids are dried by a black steel lid that is attached to a ventilation pipe at the back of the above-ground cabin.

The Otji toilet is odourless, hygienic and offers new and affordable hope and Arndt and his colleagues have continuously looked at ways to improve and develop the product.

An Otji toilet saves as much as 90 000 litres of drinking water a year and means extra cash savings for poor households. Currently, the Clay House factory has the capacity to produce around 5 000 toilets a year, in a colourful factory in Orwetoveni, Otjiwarongo.

One issue has plagued the dry sanitation sector, namely the tricky problem of separating the solids from the liquids. The issue of separating the two would further improve the dry toilet system, because dry solids degrade quickly when liquid is immediately separated from it, further improving the hygiene factor of the toilet.

A year and a half ago, Arndt had a flash of insight during his December vacation.

Since then, Arndt has designed the first urine-separating toilet bowl to be used in dry toilet systems globally: the “urine-catching toilet bowl”. Ninety per cent of the fluids that hit the side of the toilet bowl are immediately separated in a “trench” system and filtered into a pipe away from the solids. The rest of the liquids still contained in the solids evaporate rapidly due to the sun-based ventilation system. In addition, these bowls are built of cement, which has done away with the need of making either plastic or ceramic bowls associated with high costs and the need to be imported. They are produced by the Clay House Project at Otjiwarongo.

Arndt’s Otji toilet, including the urine-catching bowl made of cement, is now on its way to Haiti, where Arndt will demonstrate the technology to 20 volunteers who will then be able to introduce and spread this vital invention to struggling Haitans.

The advantages of the Otji toilet with its urine-separating toilet bowl are numerous: It is odourless and extremely hygienic due to the sun-heated ventilation system. It is a user-friendly system and requires no maintenance, as the solids captured beneath the ground are separated from the liquids and can infiltrate the ground directly. The urine is diverted through a pipe into a separate underground area, and because it is separated from the solids it remains odourless and presents no potential ground contamination.

The fact that the improved Otji toilet is now maintenance free is vital, especially in remote, rural areas where access by maintenance teams is difficult, Arndt explained. Because of these unique aspects, Arndt says he is hopeful that “in the next year, it will spread worldwide.”

Source: Jana-Mari Smith, The Namibian / allAfrica.com, 5 July 2010

The Otji-toilet : different designs one system / Clay House Project Otjiwarongo

The Otji-Toilet self builder manual / Clay House Project Otjiwarongo

Namibia: Keetmanshoop water cuts punishment for loan defaults

Punishing residents for not servicing home loans, the Keetmanshoop Town Council on Monday [08 June 2009] shut off water supply to almost 100 Build Together Programme (BTP) houses at the town. Angry BTP house owners in the town’s Tseiblaagte residential area claim not to have been given sufficient notice before the cut-offs.

“Despite my water bill being paid up, water supply to my house was disconnected while I was at work. I have children, how will we survive without water?” asked Frederika Rooi. She said many of the BTP homeowners have failed to honour home repayments in protest at the sub-standard quality of the houses and loan agreement irregularities. Also, the town council’s failure to connect many houses to the town’s main electricity grid, despite this having been included in the cost of the houses, contributed to the non-payment protest, Rooi said.

[...] When municipal officials went around disconnecting people’s water on Monday, some residents resisted and prevented the water disconnection at some homes.

In response, Keetmanshoop CEO Paul Vleermuis said the BTP homeowners’ “arguments justifying their default on payments do not hold water”. “The mortgage bond deal was concluded and there is no excuse for the defaulters not to repay their bonds. They could have complained before the lapse of the six-month retention period about the poor condition of the houses, as they claimed,” he said.

[...] “The water supply would be reconnected without any penalties if the affected started to repay the loans. We are not expecting from them to pay all arrears on the loan repayment. Even if they pay a single instalment, that ranges between N$150 and N$250, we will reconnect the water supply,” he said.

Source: Luqman Cloete, The Namibian / allAfrica.com, 10 Jun 2009

Namibia: roads toilet debate revived

WINDHOEK – The idea of erecting flushable ablution facilities along the national road network is still alive, and the final decision will be made next month on whether or not to go ahead with the plan.

Roads Authority, together with the Ministry of Works and Transport, will embark on a second public consultation meeting to solicit public interest, to decide whether to scrap the idea or implement it. The first meeting took place in Windhoek in September [in 2008].

Roads Authority, which is entrusted with information gathering, say they are planning another consultative meeting outside Windhoek. This will be the second consultative meeting since the idea of public toilets along the national road was mooted.

“The idea is not dead, we only have to consult with stakeholders after which a decision would be taken,” said spokesperson for Roads Authority, Audrin Mathe.

In September [2008], the Minister of Works and Transport, Helmut Angula, proposed the idea to Cabinet, citing the dilemma facing motorists along the country’s vast and long tarred roads.

Cabinet instructed his ministry to look into the problem and the result was for Government to seriously consider modern measures that will relieve motorists and passengers when nature calls while travelling along the country’s long-distance roads.

The proposal is that ablution facilities of flushable nature, and not the pit latrine type, be constructed along the entire national tarred road network, at intervals of at least 20-kilometre distance.

Source: Desie Heita, New Era, 12 May 2009

Namiba, Hardap Region – bucket toilets are No More in Aranos

WINDHOEK – The village of Aranos in the Hardap Region no longer has the bucket toilet system, unlike other village councils like Gibeon in the same region.

The last of the bucket toilet system was phased out in 1995 and was replaced by the pumping or slopping system, whereby each house has its own drain.

According to the chief executive officer of the village, Niklaas !Goraseb, all residents that built their houses through the build-together programme were able to build a toilet.

The informal settlements at the town have the Ecological Sanitation System, also known as the EcoSan system, or dry toilets, which do not use water.

!Goraseb said 40 EcoSan toilets were already built for the informal township, while 40 more are earmarked for building.

The CEO however said the village would be better off if it had the flowing sewerage system whereby the sewerage goes straight to a central sewerage pond and thus phase out the sewerage collection by trucks.

“Although the pumping system is better than the old bucket system, it is also costly as the trucks have to be replaced or maintained every three years,” !Goraseb said.

According to !Goraseb, the tanks carrying the sewerage are damaged by the urine in the sewerage and thus have to be replaced often, which is a costly exercise.

He said installing the flowing system would be very costly for the small village. A feasibility study by one engineering company gave a quote of N$12,5 million.

“We sent the quotation to the Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development last month already and are waiting to hear from his office,” he said.

Another plan that the village has is to build a dam, so that it has its own water and does not depend too much on NamWater for water.

Aranos is inhabited by around 7 000 people of whom 60 percent are unemployed.

!Goraseb noted that some of the inhabitants depend on casual work on neighbouring farms.

The village has five schools, a hospital, police station, a court, an agricultural and veterinary office, Pep Stores, Nampost and an Agra store.

Source: New Era, 19 May 2009