The Erongo Desalination Plant, also known as the Orano Desalination Plant, is a

sea water Seawater, or sea water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approximate ...

desalination plant in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. The facility was constructed between 2008 and 2010 by Orano Mining Namibia, part of the French nuclear fuel cycle company

Orano Orano SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational nuclear fuel cycle corporation headquartered in Châtillon, Hauts-de-Seine. The company is engaged in uranium mining, conversion-enrichment, Nuclear reprocessing, spent fuel recycling ...

, which at the time was known as Areva Ressources Namibia, part of

Areva Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...

. The

desalination Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...

plant was established to supply water to

s Trekkopje Uranium Mine. At the time this plant was commissioned, it was the largest

reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane, semi-permeable membrane to separate water molecules from other substances. RO applies pressure to overcome osmotic pressure that favors even distribu ...

desalination plant in

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

Location

The desalination plant is located in the

Namib Desert The Namib ( ; ) is a coastal desert in Southern Africa. According to the broadest definition, the Namib stretches for more than along the Atlantic coasts of Angola, Namibia, and northwest South Africa, extending southward from the Carunjamba Ri ...

, near the settlement of

Wlotzkasbaken Wlotzkasbaken or Wlotzka's Baken (, often shortened to Wlotzka or Wlotzkas) is a holiday settlement on Namibia Atlantic coast, situated approximately halfway between Swakopmund and Hentiesbay. The area around the village lies within the Dorob N ...

, in the

Erongo Region Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as ...

of Namibia. The plant is located approximately north of

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

, the nearest large town. Swakopmund is located approximately by road, west of

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

, the capital and largest city in the country. The geographical coordinates of Erongo Desalination Plant are 22°22'19.0"S, 14°26'28.0"E (Latitude:-22.371944; Longitude:14.441111).

Overview

The Erongo Desalination Plant was developed and is owned by Orano Resources Namibia (formerly Areva Resources Namibia). The purified drinking water was primarily intended for use in Orano's

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

mine known as the

Trekkopje Mine The Trekkopje mine is a shallow open pit mine which has been under care and maintenance since 2012. It is located at Trekkopje in the western part of Namibia in Erongo Region. Trekkopje represents one of the largest uranium reserves in Namibia, ...

, located near

Arandis, Namibia is a mining town in the Erongo Region of western central Namibia. The town has 5,726 inhabitants. Originally a camp for workers of the nearby Rössing uranium mine, Arandis was declared a town in 1994. Economy and infrastructure Arandis has b ...

. The clean water has to be pumped from the plant to Arandis, a straight-line distance of about and a road distance of approximately . The plant is operated by Nafasi Water, a "water technology and water utility service company", based in Rosebank,

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

, South Africa. The

potable Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

water is then sold to

NamWater The Namibia Water Corporation or NamWater is a state-owned enterprise in Namibia. Its headquarters are in the capital Windhoek. NamWater was registered on as successor of the South West Africa Water and Electricity Commission (SWAWEC). It is who ...

, the national water utility company, for distribution to the city of Swakopmund, the nearby mines and other areas of

. Output can be varied according to demand ranging from annually to , with the present infrastructure. If the need arose new infrastructure can be added to supply annually. The raw

is taken through the following processes, during purification: (a) screen filtration (b) ultrafiltration (c)

(d) limestone contact and (e) chlorination.

Cost

The development of this water treatment plant cost N$2.5 billion (approx. US$153 million) in 2010.

Other developments

In July 2022, the owners of this facility signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with InnoSun (a subsidiary of the French firm InnoVent) to design, build, own, operate and maintain a 5 MW solar power station and supply that energy to Erongo Desalination Plant for a 10-year contract term, starting on the date of commercial commissioning. Construction is expected to start during the second half of 2022, with commissioning expected in 2023.

expects the new solar farm to reduce the desalination plant's carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent or nearly 10,000 metric tonnes annually.

References

External links