By Tueripura Mundingi.
Access to clean water in northern Namibia is a real issue. In regions like Kunene and Omusati, where prolonged dry spells have lowered groundwater levels and strained boreholes, families plan their days around collecting, storing, and rationing water. For many, especially in rural communities, water scarcity is not seasonal but constant.
Namibia is recognised as one of the driest countries in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, prolonged droughts and rising demand have created growing pressure on the country’s limited water resources.
In 2025, as part of the ongoing national drought response, the government introduced new measures to address the shortfall. The programme includes drilling new boreholes, rehabilitating dams, expanding pipelines, and installing small desalination units, as well as tighter cooperation between NamWater and NamPower to ensure stable pumping and electricity supply.
These measures reflect the scale of the challenge. The country depends heavily on groundwater and shared river systems, while storage capacity remains limited. Northern regions rely on a canal and pipeline network that carries water from Angola’s Calueque Dam – infrastructure built in the 1960s and now stretched thin during dry years.
Along the coast, the Erongo region faces a different but similarly serious challenge. Home to Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, and several uranium mines, Erongo already uses desalination as part of its water supply. The desalination plant north of Swakopmund, launched in 2010 by Orano (formerly Areva), produces up to 20 million cubic meters of fresh water annually. Initially designed to serve the mining industry, it now also supplies coastal towns.
Yet demand is rising, and with growing cities and industry, existing capacity is being tested. In 2025, NamWater launched a N$743 million expansion of the Oshakati water purification plant, increasing its capacity from 40,000 to 90,000 cubic metres per day, with partial financing from the African Development Bank. Officials described it as a turning point in Namibia’s water security.
While inland projects such as Oshakati focus on treating surface water, coastal regions rely increasingly on desalination – a technology with a different infrastructure and energy requirements. Desalination requires steady power. Large-scale facilities need a stable power supply to operate efficiently, and Namibia currently imports much of its electricity from neighbouring countries. Domestic power generation depends mainly on hydropower from Ruacana, whose output fluctuates with rainfall. Meanwhile, solar and wind projects are expanding, and the government is pursuing ambitious green hydrogen goals.
So how can large-scale water production facilities meet the rising demand? Can they add another power source to the mix – to lighten the load on the current infrastructure?
One of the possible solutions is to use nuclear energy for desalination. Nuclear plants produce heat as well as electricity – the former can be used to remove salt from seawater under pressure or through controlled evaporation. The main advantage of this method is its reliability because, unlike solar or wind systems, nuclear energy can be generated 24/7 and does not depend on external factors.
Nuclear-energy-based desalination has been successfully implemented in several countries around the world. In India, desalination units have long been linked to nuclear power stations to provide both industrial and household water. In South Africa, a mobile desalination plant was installed at the Koeberg NPP almost a decade ago to ease local shortages during a severe drought. Aktau, Kazakhstan was the first place where nuclear desalination was implemented: in the 1960s Soviet engineers used reactor heat to both generate electricity and produce tens of thousands cubic meters of drinking water – daily. Still water produced using this method is safe for drinking: it does not contain radionuclides and does not come into contact with radioactive substances or radiation.
Rosatom has later built on this method. For decades the company has been developing technologies that combine nuclear energy with water treatment and desalination. The company is currently implementing this solution at international nuclear power sites, including the Akkuyu project in Turkey, and is exploring partnerships elsewhere across Africa. In 2023, the company signed a memorandum with the Moroccan consulting firm Water & Energy Solutions on cooperation in desalination and water treatment – a sign of growing interest in how nuclear expertise can support a sustainable water supply amid a changing climate landscape.
For Namibia, nuclear-powered desalination can be a potential next step. The country is one of the world’s top uranium producers and has shown interest in exploring broader nuclear energy options. Introducing nuclear desalination would require detailed feasibility studies, environmental and safety assessments, and extensive public discussion. Namibia would not be starting from scratch, though, given its experience with large-scale desert infrastructure and long-standing cooperation with international energy partners.
Namibia’s pursuit of water security can go hand-in-hand with its energy policy. A reliable water supply is essential for stability and growth in several areas, such as farming, mining and helping communities in the north. Nuclear desalination will not replace the existing infrastructure – it can rather complement it by offering a consistent, large-scale solution for struggling regions.
