THE lack of clean drinking water at Asab village in the Gibeon Constituency is now a thing of the past, as a borehole supplying clean water was drilled there in August.

Nampa reported in July this year that a lack of water had forced residents to dig holes in the nearby Asab riverbed to get drinking water.

Residents had been complaining for the past two years that they did not have clean water, and would sometimes be forced to drink unsafe water from the holes dug in the river.

This was because the 5 000-litre water tank that was filled with clean water by the Directorate of Rural Water Supply every three months would usually run dry within two weeks.

Over the same period, the Rural Water Supply Directorate, in conjunction with the Gibeon Constituency office, drilled two boreholes in search of clean water, but found only brackish water.

They struck it lucky in August when they drilled another borehole yielding drinkable water, some 2,5 kilometres from the households.

A diesel pump has since been installed, and a pipe connected from the borehole to two 10 000-litre water tanks which supply water to the nine households at Asab.

“People are happy now that we provide them with water. They might as well start with backyard gardening. They asked us to also supply water for their animals, but we said the animals can drink from the holes dug in the river,” said Gibeon Constituency regional councillor Jeremia van Neel.

Nampa also spoke to some residents over the weekend, who said they are pleased that they now have enough drinking water.

“We want to thank the media for exposing our water problem, causing the politicians and the government to act on it urgently. Were it not for that, they would have ignored us like they have been doing over the past years,” said Andries Fleermuys.

Asab village is situated between Gibeon and Keetmanshoop in the Hardap Region.