Sanitation and Water Reuse in Outapi

Sanitation and Water Reuse in Outapi

Approximately 40 per cent of the urban population in Namibia does not have access to enhanced sanitation facilities. To improve this situation the Namibian National Sanitation Strategy proposes efficient technologies including flush toilets in combination with advanced sewage technologies, such as vacuum transport. The international research project CuveWaters takes these major recommendations into account, combining wastewater management with water reuse, fertiliser recovery, energy generation, and a community-based approach. Special attention is paid to altering hygiene behaviour to prevent waterborne diseases. Outapi, a municipality with about 4,600 inhabitants, was chosen for implementing the sanitation and water reuse infrastructure. Approximately 1,500 inhabitants benefit. The concept includes among other things, small and communal washing houses as well as almost a dozen Community Health Clubs to improve household health and hygiene. They help to foster self-organisation and communication between the users themselves and with the municipality. CuveWaters is a joint project of ISOE - Institute for Social-Ecological Research in Frankfurt am Main/Germany and the Technische Universität Darmstadt/Germany. It is being funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the funding priority "Sustainable Water Management NaWaM".