By Lylie Happiness,
Oshakati, Aug. 11 — As the saying goes that water is life, many people of Uukwandongo village, situated 10 kilometres from the town of Okahao in the Omusati region, are experiencing a difficult time without the precious liquid.
The last rainfall season was sporadic and not all areas of the region received adequate rainfall. As a result, some areas did not get enough rain and people and their livestock is suffering.
Residents of Uukwandongo have expressed concern that their animals might die of thirst before the next rain season since the dams in the area have dried up and the animals have nowhere to get water.
Some villagers have resorted to giving livestock piped water meant for people but this is very expensive as they have to pay for the water at the end of the month.
According to veterinary experts, an adult cow needs about 40 litres of water a day.
As Namibia is generally an arid country, some regions, villages and town councils have taken steps to ensure the survival of livestock by drilling boreholes and constructing dams to store water for livestock until the next rain season.
Joel Nangolo, (68) who has been residing at Uukwandongo for almost 10 years said he was worried about this situation.
“After the devastating drought of 2019, we thought the council would come up with ideas of providing water including constructing those dams (omatale) in the village to store water when rains come but this did not happen.
“Whatever dams had water dried up around April and since then I have been giving my cattle and goats piped water from the tap but this is increasing my water bills too high levels every month. I sometimes find myself paying up to N$1 500 a month and at times the bill is higher than that,” he said.
“We appeal to the council to do something about this situation,” he added.
Another villager Laimi Nghifekwa drives to neighbouring villages with 20-litre containers to get water for her livestock every day.
“I take 15 containers to the neighbouring village to go fetch water. We don’t pay for this water since it is just a community borehole which was drilled by the council.
“I own 15 cattle and more than 20 goats and this is really hard for me since I have to fetch water more than times a day if all my livestock are to have enough. The council must come to the people and discuss how they would save the situation.
Efforts to get a comment from the councillor for Okahao were unsuccessful as his phone went unanswered.
