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In Eastern Ohangwena area, rainwater has already dried up leaving people and their livestock struggling to find fresh water for survival. Residents in the villages of Oshikunde, Okongo, Omundaungilo and Epembe now solely depend on borehole for water.
The chairperson of Ohangwena Regional Council, who is also the chairperson of the Disaster Risk Management Committee, Erickson Ndawanifa, said the rest of the region was still surviving on rainwater in the earth dams, but the temporary solution was short-lived as many earth dams are beginning to dry up.
Despite that, he said water was poised to become scarce as the collected rainwater is also likely to run dry before the end of the next rainy season. “There is water at the moment, but it is not sufficient and if it does not rain soon, we will be without water in October,” Amutse said.
He added that although there are pipeline in some areas, there is not sufficient pressure to pump water to the people in need, hence he appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry to render a hand to the affected communities.
Chairperson of Oshana Regional Council – also the chairperson of the Disaster Risk Management Committee in that region – Hannu Kapenda said the region has sufficient water to last until the next rainy season. “If it rains well during the next rainy season, we will not experience drought for some time,” Kapenda said.