Swakopmund Desalination Plant

This evening I went to attend a public meeting for the proposed 'mile 6' Desalination Plant, to be built just north of mile 4. (Just before Mile 8...really)

There are a lot of mixed feelings about the whole thing. For one, the main reason why we need all this water is to supply Uranium mines. Rossing Uranium has been around for a couple decades and uses more water than Swakopmund (3.3 million cubic meters to 3 million cubic meters per annum.)

The location is also poor. They want to place the desalination plant just north of the Mile 4 salt works, which is a bird sanctuary. There are lots of Damara Terns in the area, as well as many other birds. It will probably have an impact on the guano (bird sh..I-mean-poo) production.

But in the end, it is going to happen, like it or not. It was an interesting meeting because for once the developers (town, housing, etc..) seemed to be on the same side as the environmentalists...they want the area north of Swakop to build their houses, we want our desert and birds. But the big money is with the Uranium.

The plant is going to cost a staggering amount, and with that much money in the thing, I can imagine that these town open meetings are merely done to appease and comply with the law.

But, everyone, at the end of the day, has to agree that they are doing one thing right...they will probably reduce our dependence on ground water.

So, we'll see what happens. Construction starts somewhere near the middle of the year, and it is a 13 month project. Then we will see what the birds think of it?

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