Namibia Dairies happy with water savingsThe local dairy company says it is ahead of the game in preventing the nation’s water woes from slowing down its production. Contingency measures help ease operational stress The local dairy company says it is ahead of the game in preventing the nation’s water woes from slowing down its production. Namibia Dairies has not allowed an escalating water crisis to dampen its enthusiasm, this week reporting that it had managed to reduce its water use by 40%, or 4 200 cubic metres.The Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group subsidiary yesterday reported on the measures it had taken to help the City of Windhoek save water, including reclamation of usable water and changing its water consumption techniques.
“Even before a water crisis was declared by the City of Windhoek, we realised that we were facing tough times in terms of water availability and that we should implement some actions to save water in order to ensure job security and sustainable production output at our plant at Avis,” said Namibia Dairies technical head Pieter van Wyk.
“We have a savings improvement of 40% (4 200 cubic metres) since the start of our initiatives and this also represents a good improvement on the required City of Windhoek quota. The main indicator on savings however is the ratio of litre water used per litre product produced. This ratio has improved from 3.51l water to 2.61l water per litre product produced,” Van Wyk said.
A water crisis committee established at the company to lead water reduction efforts have implemented such measures as installing additional flow meters monitored and reported on a daily basis; installation of buffer tanks, pumps and pipes to accumulate and redistribute water; installing water-saving devices throughout the plant and its ablution facilities; and arranging weekly tracking meetings and awareness discussions throughout the business.
These efforts, Van Wyk said, are effective at all three Windhoek-based operations of Namibia Dairies, namely Namibia Dairies Avis, Namibia Dairies Prosperita and Windhoek Schlachterei.
“We had a very negative outlook on the situation at the beginning of the water crisis in terms of product supply, job stability, future business opportunities, and so forth,” Van Wyk said.
“Fortunately we, as a Namibia Dairies team, have become accustomed to facing all sorts of challenges and we therefore decided that this will not hamper our spirit. This was an absolute team effort and all credit goes to the team who really thought out of the box and made things happen as it was identified.”
He said these measures enabled the company to keep all departments running at full operation, not having to sacrifice a single litre or unit of product in the process.
“All initiatives implemented are sustainable and will still be in effect even after the water crisis is something of the past. We are still looking at possibilities to reduce water usage, or use available water more effectively,” Van Wyk said.
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