Construction on Swakop’s New Sewerage Plant Underway

Adam Hartman

24 May 2011

Trembling earth in Swakopmund recently announced the start of construction on Swakopmund’s new sewerage plant.

The new N$163 million plant will be situated next to the new dumpsite north of Swakopmund.

The old site is in town, next to a residential area, and a medical centre, and has for some time now been seen as a ‘curse’, especially when the wind and weather encourages the foul smell to linger around the nearby residents, while also inviting millions of tiny drain flies.

According to the General Manager of Engineering at the Swakopmund Municipality, Enrico van Wyk, the new “state-of-the-art” plant will be more effective in treating sewerage to semi-purified water, and even if it were located in town, the fearful odours associated with the old plant would be something of the past anyway.

“It will be smaller, but would process at double the capacity of our current plant. We will get more water from the new plant, and will be able to feed the entire Swakopmund with semi-purified water, which will mainly be used for our gardens. Only the lower-lying areas of Swakopmund could be supplied by the old plant, which is much larger,” he explained. “Although it is more expensive to construct, in the long term the municipality will save on operations and maintenance.”

Van Wyk said that part of the old plant would remain and serve as storage of purified sewerage water – linked via pipeline with the new plant – however most of the infrastructure will be removed.

“We will not remove it totally to make way for more land for now,” according to him.

The new plant, which is expected to be commissioned by July next year if all goes according to plan, will also have the capability to expand as the town of Swakopmund grows.

AllAfrica – All the Time