Abstract
Namibia is the most arid country in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Cuvelai-Etosha Basin (CEB) in central northern Namibia in particular is experiencing various ecological and social-ecological challenges such as high climate variability, saline groundwater, dependence on Angola for freshwater supply, high population growth and density, and increasing urbanisation. These challenges make water supply and management difficult and threaten the livelihood of the local population and the health of the ecosystem. Facing up to these challenges, the German-Namibian research project CuveWaters has developed, adapted and set up different technologies as pilot plant s. The Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) concept of CuveWaters is based on a multi-resource-mix in which water is obtained from different sources (rainwater, floodwater, groundwater and wastewater) and used for various purposes. High quality water is used as drinking water; water of a relatively low quality is used for irrigation. In cooperation with the residents of four villages and one small town, the project partners are implementing different technologies to collect and store, produce, treat and reuse water. The implemented technologies are rain- and floodwater harvesting, groundwater desalination, and the combination of sanitation, wastewater treatment and water reuse. The aim is to improve peoples’ livelihood through research on innovative and adapted solutions which contribute to a successful and adapted application of IWRM. To this end, the project integrates science, technology and societal aspects in a transdisciplinary research approach by linking scientific knowledge from natural, engineering and social sciences with the everyday practices and know-how of the stakeholders involved. Thus, the technical aspects are complemented by a wide range of societal and scientific components, such as capacity development, monitoring, participation or knowledge management. These ensure societal embedding of the technologies and knowledge transfer. This paper will illustrate the transdisciplinary approach, implemented technologies and accompanying measures as well as key results.
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Notes
- 1.
Exponential rate of growth.
- 2.
NAD = Namibian Dollar; exchange rate: 10 NAD = 0.68 € (15 Dec 2014).
- 3.
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE).
- 4.
Ingenieurbüro für Energie- und Umwelttechnik (IBEU)/Solar-Institute Jülich (SIJ).
- 5.
The costs include the desalination plant, solar energy components, data transmission for monitoring, services and salaries for local personnel.
- 6.
In cooperation with IWAS and IHP/HWRP (Liehr and Röhrig 2012), see www.iwrm-education.de.
- 7.
An integration of the Digital Multimedia-Atlas into the Namibian Environment Information System (EIS, www.the-eis.com, accessed 15 Aug 2014) as an Interactive Water Information and Planning Tool (IWIP) of the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin and of the IWRM-Toolkit and the Digital Multimedia-Atlas on the Namibian online knowledge platform on IWRM (www.iwrm-namibia.info.na, accessed 15 Aug 2014) has already taken place outside of the scope of the project. The RWH-Toolkit is integrated in ongoing capacity development measures and will be handed-over to the BMCs.
- 8.
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) of 23,650 mg/l including Sulphate of 8,170 mg SO4 2− per l.
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Acknowledgements
The strong commitment of and very fruitful cooperation with the Namibian partners MAWF, OTC, DRFN, UNAM, PoN and all further Namibian stakeholders, African partners (One World Consultants) as well as the highly motivated work of the industrial partners are indispensable for making such a project possible—this is acknowledged very much. Funding for this research and development project received from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is gratefully acknowledged. We thank also the reviewers and editors for their valuable comments.
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Liehr, S. et al. (2016). From the Concept to the Tap—Integrated Water Resources Management in Northern Namibia. In: Borchardt, D., Bogardi, J., Ibisch, R. (eds) Integrated Water Resources Management: Concept, Research and Implementation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25071-7_26
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