02 - Reclaiming wastewater in Windhoek, Namibia
Project name
New Goreangab water reclamation plant in Windhoek
  Scheme of the Goreangab wastewater reclamation plant
Keywords
Waste water re-use to drinking water
Start of project
1968: first version
2002: revision and upgrading
End of project
In operation
Contact person
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and http://www.berlinwasser.net
Short project description / project function
Namibia is the driest country below the Sahara. Windhoek is the capital city of Namibia and has approximately 200'000 residents and a yearly increase of the population of about 5%. Windhoek has no fresh water resources and the climate is very dry and unpredictable.
Since 1968 the treated waste water is added to a heavily polluted reservoir and a source for drinking water. In 2002 this treatment plant was rebuilt and the waste water effluent is now the primary source for drinking water. This is the only place in the world where this happens.
Summary of experiences
The plant has been in operation and is being run by a private company and provides for 30% in the total water demand. No outbreaks of any disease have been reported or related to this treatment facility. http://www.berlinwasser.net (i.e.)
Project benefits
Good drinking water for the residents, no discharge of wastewater, fewer groundwater extractions.
Project level
Mature technology (on a world scale you can say a pilot project)
Financial scale
Construction: 15 million US$
Operation costs: 0.76$/m3 (in total 21.000m3/day)
Environmental conditions
Arid, semi dessert
Altitude
Height above sea level: about 2300m
Description of special local conditions
Very dry, no water surface resources in a radius of 500 km
Why is this ecological engineering
It can be discussed if this is ecological engineering, but nevertheless it is included here, as it shows the possibilities of converting wastewater to drinking water in a very dry area. This can be considered as a relevant solution to increase sustainable use of water (recycling).
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 December 2007 )