When telling my family and friends that I would be going to Namibia over the summer, one of the first things that always came up was “Isn’t that country a complete desert?” And without fail, after I had more or less affirmed their suspicions, they would ask about water. How would I get any? How do people live in such an arid place? Why do people live in such an arid place? At the time, I couldn’t answer their questions well because I really hadn’t given it much thought before actually arriving in the country. But, as expected, after arriving in Namibia it became clear to me that the country’s history with water conservation was a long and complicated one. One which was still in the process of being written- which was evidenced by the severe drought that had been ailing the capital city of Windhoek since the end of the rainy (or not so rainy in the case) season of 2015.
As a class, one of our first encounters with water conservation came during our lecture class. This may seem surprising because we had been living in the country for a while already by that point- wouldn’t we have come in contact in some way with the shortage of water? The answer is pretty much no. We were stayed in a fairly touristy and very nice guesthouse, which was fitted with private bathrooms in most rooms as well as an outdoor pool. These things caused me to not even realize there was a severe drought going on in the city until I researched the topic more, and talked to some of the local kids. Even as we travelled more, it was evident that there was an unspoken agreement that any “nice” accommodation would not bother the tourists about the drought more than maybe a sign in the bathroom asking politely to not leave the sink on while brushing teeth. This lack of a communication was one of the major issues with water conservation that the country was still experiencing.
As I mentioned previously, we discussed the history of water scarcity in class before we were even able to experience it ourselves. Since the indigenous peoples had inhabited this land, they had decided where to live based on the availability of water. This caused many of them to live nomadic lifestyles. They also utilized (and still do) boreholes, which are deep holes in the ground that are often dug near or on dried riverbeds during the winter (dry) season. We encountered one of these holes on our way to Etosha National Park, however it was not functional (or possible the water was not high enough quality to drink) because water was being allowed to pour out and create a watering hole for nearby animals. (Pictured below).
The scarcity of water was also utilized as a form of combat in the struggle between colonial powers (Germany) and the indigenous peoples. For example, in 1904 in the midst of the German struggle to control Namibia and suppress its indigenous peoples, the German commander Von Trotha took into consideration the fact that they were fighting near the Omaheke desert. When surrounding the Herero people, who were gathered at Watergate, Von Trotha purposely left the south-eastern part of his army weaker because if any Herero were to escape that way, they would be driven into the desert and most likely killed due to a lack of water. More people ended up escaping via this route than Von Trotha anticipated, however, and after only a couple of days in pursuit, his troops were forced to turn back due to a dearth of water. A very few number of the Herero people were able to survive the journey due to their experience of living in the aridity- however, vast numbers of them were killed due to the conditions.
Moving back to present day, it was possible to understand the water situation in Windhoek, where we stayed for most of the trip. The city has developed many technologies to aid in the combating of the almost constant water shortage, and the government has become more diligent about correctly informing the city residents of how dire the situation is at any given time. Currently, there are four main ways by which Windhoek fulfills its water needs. Surface water can be obtained from the Von Bach, Swakoppoort or Omatako dams, ground water can be gathered from over 50 municipal boreholes around the city, or water can be reclaimed through one of the cities three famous water reclamation facilities. While the system they have in place is effective in delivering water to the population, it is not perfect. As mentioned before, the biggest problem I experienced with the water shortage was that tourists were not explicitly made aware of it (and tourism is one of the country’s more profitable industries). More often than not, when our seminar all went out to dinner together (~16-20 people depending on the night), we were brought individual water bottles, and if someone wanted more, they were given multiple without any question. The waste was painful to watch, and one of the only indicators of the water shortage in the country was the fact that water was not free with any meal.

The watering hole that was created as a consequence of this borehole.

The borehole itself.