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dam-l Okavango-US company connection
Plan could turn Okavango to dust November 29, 1996
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>Thousands of Batswana could literally see their livelihoods dry up before
>their eyes, reports Ruaridh Nicoll
>
>A UNITED STATES company has offered to build a factory in Namibia if it
>receives a contract to supply pipe for a controversial project designed to
>drain water from the Okavango River, which feeds the Okavango Delta in
>northern Botswana.
>
>The Namibian government, desperate to ease the pain of drought facing the
>country and Windhoek in particular, plans to take water from the river in a
>move that conservationists argue would put the delta at severe risk.
>
>Earlier this month two executives from Owens Corning, a company based in
>Ohio with strong South African interests, met senior figures in the Namibian
>government to express an interest in supplying pipe - made from fibreglass -
>to build the 250km final section of Namibia's Eastern National Water
>Carrier, which will divert water from a point on the Okavango River near
>Rundu in northern Namibia to Windhoek, several hundred kilometres away. The
>pipe will draw 700 litres of water a second from the river. The executives
>said that the pipe could be manufactured at a local, purpose-built plant.
>
>The Okavango is the third-largest river in Southern Africa. It flows from
>its birthplace in the Angolan highlands down through Namibia and into
>Botswana. There it hits the flat plains of the Kalahari and spreads out in a
>dazzling array of channels that make up the world's largest oasis.
>
>The delta provides a home to a vast array of wildlife and the tourism it
>brings is Botswana's third-largest foreign currency earner. The residents of
>Maun, a town at the foot of the delta, are terrified that the pipeline will
>reduce the amount of water the delta receives.
>
>At the moment, a lack of rain in the Angolan highlands has left the area
>drier than at any time in living memory.
>
>Kehemetswe Saozo makes his living punting tourists through the delta's reed
>beds. "If the water dries up it will be the end of our lives," he said,
>referring to Namibia's plan to pipe the water. "All the things of our lives
>are solely dependent on it."
>
>The Namibians argue that the amount of water they want to take will be
>negligible and that, because of the drought, they have no choice. "If we
>don't build the pipeline and the rains fail again ... To put it bluntly
>we'll be in the shit," said Piet Heyns, the senior Namibian water engineer.
>
>This view is not well accepted in Maun. "They say the pipeline is the
>alternative," said Professor Lars Ramberg, director of the University of
>Botswana's Okavango Research Centre. "Well, I'd like to see some other
>alternatives."
>
>This year, for the first time, the annual flood that usually fills the delta
>did not reach Maun. The town's water, drawn from boreholes, is drying up.
>While engineers desperately try to work out how fast the water table is
>dropping, the area's white residents worry for their businesses. But at
>least they can always move elsewhere.
>
>Not so for the black population. "I don't like this pipeline very much,"
>said Tawana Moremi, the delta's paramount chief. "We should buy more planes
>and bomb it."
>
>Although far-fetched - Botswana has no history of violence towards its
>neighbours - confrontation between Namibia and Botswana is an idea often
>raised. Botswana recently tried to buy tanks from Europe but the deal was
>scotched, most think by a plea from Namibia.
>
>"There has been the suggestion that the Batswana want to buy tanks to shoot
>at the Namibians because they want to steal water from the Okavango," said
>Heyns. "That is nonsense, the two things are not connected."
>
>"We were told in June that Namibia had a serious drought problem," said
>Momemi Sekwale, leader of Botswana's delegation to Okacom, a commission set
>up by Namibia, Botswana and Angola to ensure prudent use of the river. If
>Sekwale is angry that Namibia has superseded Okacom, then he does not show
>it: "The position of Botswana is that we cannot oppose a feasibility study,
>under the circumstances we can only ask to be kept informed."
>
>Windhoek's reservoirs are currently at around 10% of capacity and 40 000
>livestock have died so far in the drought. There is no question that the
>situation is serious.
>
>But the question remains as to whether it is safe to interfere with the
>delta's one supply of water. The Okavango is robust enough to survive
>anything except the water being turned off. If that happens a Garden of Eden
>returns to Kalahari dust.
>
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>© Weekly Mail & Guardian
>You may not redistribute or republish this material in any form whatsoever
>without prior written consent
>
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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