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Good practice Imported

New Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant — Direct Potable Water Reuse in Windhoek, Namibia

Namibia · Windhoek · See the Namibia profile · See the Windhoek profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 76% 33/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Windhoek has turned reclaimed sewage into drinking water since 1968. The New Goreangab plant (2002) now supplies 21,000 m³/day — a quarter of the capital's water — with a second facility planned to reach 50% amid prolonged drought.

~21,000 m3/day
Drinking water produced
~25%
Share of Windhoek's water demand met
US$43 million+
DPR2 financing (KfW)
~50%
Target share of consumption after DPR2
New Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant — Direct Potable Water Reuse in Windhoek, Namibia New Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant — Direct Potable Water Reuse in Windhoek, Namibia

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
City of Windhoek / Windhoek Goreangab Operating Company (WINGOC)
Period
1968–present (New Goreangab plant since 2002)
Keywords
water reuse, drinking water, drought resilience, circular economy

Context

Windhoek pioneered direct potable reuse (DPR) in 1968, when the original Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant became the world's first facility purifying sewage effluent into drinking water without an environmental buffer. The New Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant, commissioned in September 2002, uses a multi-barrier treatment train to produce roughly 21,000 m3 of drinking water per day, meeting about a quarter of Windhoek's demand.

Results

Namibia's capital sits in one of the driest countries south of the Sahara and has faced more than seven years of persistent drought, making reclaimed water a structural part of the city's supply. A second direct-potable-reuse facility (DPR2) is now planned with financing of more than US$43 million from Germany's KfW development bank, intended to lift reclaimed water's share of consumption to about 50%.

Conclusions

Windhoek's decades-long safety record has made it a reference case cited by utilities elsewhere, including in the United States, exploring their own direct-reuse programmes.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
City of Windhoek water utility, KfW development bank (DPR2 financing)

Conditions for success

  • multi-barrier treatment train
  • decades-long operational safety record supporting public trust

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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