Where in the world is Achal?

This blog has been quiet since January 29. Some of you must be wondering, where is Achal? Has he quietly returned to the US and is hibernating in the cold weather, or has he gone on a long African Safari? Well, neither is true (though I would have loved to go on a Safari for a week or two). Actually, I am busy teaching a class at the Polytechnic. The new semester started on January 19 and my role changed from a researcher to an educator. I am currently busy teaching a Master's class on water pollution and wastewater monitoring programs. In my earlier posts, I discussed the growing problem of water pollution in the Windhoek area, so the topics of my class are very relevant to the current situation and future solutions. My classes are held during the weekend - Saturday from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM (with some breaks) and on Sunday from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM. I spend lot of my time during the week getting ready for the long weekends. This class is designed for wastewater professionals who are working and want to pursue a Master's degree in wastewater management, hence my class is held during the weekends. My class has students from wastewater treatment plants, field personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture and Water who monitor water quality of the rivers and ground water, and a teacher who wants to change careers. I also have one international student from Ghana who wants to become a water engineer and return to Ghana, to help their efforts against water pollution.

I will be busy in teaching till the end of March and then will start packing up to come back home. So if you don't see another post soon, you know I am busy in the classroom with my students teaching and training them on water pollution and water quality monitoring.

In the meantime, please do stay in touch through your comments and emails. See you soon!

Let’s Connect the Dots

Last month I rode with a NamWater official to one of their drinking water reservoirs - the Swakoppoort Dam. It’s about 90 miles northwest of the City of Windhoek. This dam is critically important to supplying drinking water to the residents of Windhoek. It collects water from the ephemeral Swakop River during the rainy season, and during the dry periods no water flows in to the dam. The dam is suffering from algal bloom and slowly turning green which is a big cause of concern to the NamWater management team. I wanted to see how much damage the algal bloom has caused to Swakoppoort water quality and what is causing the algal bloom in the dam in the first place. The water quality was below the levels a water quality professional would like to see (Picture 1). Fortunately, the algae growth has yet to reach the point of no return, so there is still hope that the dam water can be salvaged.

Now let me bring another dam into the picture: Goreangab dam. This dam is located just outside the western border of Windhoek. Many years ago, this dam was a big part of the water supply chain. Now, it has turned into a green-slimy lake. The algae are so thick in the water that even swimming in Goreangab dam is prohibited. E. coli and other microbe levels register off the scale. This huge water reservoir is just sitting there as a reminder of good water gone bad. Water is scarce in Namibia, and especially in Windhoek, so losing such a big reservoir is a very unfortunate blow.

So, what went wrong with the Goreangab dam? The answer is found at the Gammams Wastewater Treatment plant (Picture 2 below), which feeds this dam. The effluent coming out of Gammams treatment plant can follow two possible routes: Route one, it can go into a series of maturation ponds where the effluent will be allowed to further purify under natural conditions before it is utilized by the Reclamation Plant for ultra-purification and mixed with drinking water supplies. (Check my December 18, 2012, blog posting on the treatment plant). In route two, the effluent can follow towards the Goreangab reservoir, which feeds the Goreangab Dam. The determining factor whether the effluent would go into the maturation ponds or into Goreangab reservoir is the levels of nutrients; i.e., nitrates and phosphate levels. Effluent with low nutrient level is diverted to the maturation ponds because it will be ultimately used for human consumption while the effluent with high nutrient levels is sent to Goreangab reservoir. Algae love these nutrients, especially the phosphates. With lots of sunlight, warm temperatures, and abundant supplies of phosphates, algae grow unabated. That’s what precisely happened to Goreangab reservoir and Goreangab dam. Over time a nice and clean water reservoir became unusable.

Let’s Connect Dots: Now let’s move back to Swakoppoort Dam. Although the Gammams treatment plant is about 90 miles away from the Swakoppoort dam, the effluent from Gammams treatment plant can still reach this dam. The connecting link is the previously discussed Goreangab dam. Unfortunately, the spillover from the Goreangab dam goes into local seasonal creeks and rivers. During the dry season, most of the spillover effluent dries out before it reaches the Skapoppoort dam. But in the rainy season, all the residue which had been accumulating in the dry river bed flows into the Swakop River, which fills the Swakoppoort Dam. So the high nutrient effluent from Gammams treatment plant ends up in the Swakopoort dam. This is what is causing algal blooms in the Swakoppoort dam. Although NamWater is aware of the problem but very little has been done so far to change the situation.

Suddenly, the Watershed monitoring and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) studies that the MSDGC has been conducting to protect our water resources made a lot of sense to me. Using a holistic approach is the only way to manage our water resources and protect them from pollution or they might go the Swakoppoort Dam way.





Swakoppoort Dam water turning green








Geographic locations and proximities of Gammams Wastewater Treatment
Plant, Goreangab Dam, Swakoppoort Dam and Von Bach Dam.

 .






Close up of the City of Windhoek area. Goreangab Dam is located on the north-west side of the City of Windhoek. The white buildings just south of Goreangab Dam is Gammams WWT plant.



Thank you for your feedback. Here are some pictures from my trip to the archeological site, known as Twyfelfontein Valley, in the north-western part of Namibia. These Stone Age engravings have been estimated to be between 2000-5000 years old. Hope you will like these pictures of precious art work left for us by the early humans. As always, send me your emails and let me know if you have any questions.

This rock is the most popular among all because of the engraving
of a Lion Man, a creature with five toes like humans instead of usual
four toes in lions, and a pugmark at the tip of its tail.

Zebra engravings

Giraffe and human foot print engravings

My Namibia Tour

Happy New Year to everyone in the City of Cincinnati! I hope the New Year brings joy, peace and prosperity to you and yours.

Everything in Windhoek comes to a standstill after December 20 as the majority of the city residents leave for vacation. Many go to their homes in different parts of the country to celebrate Christmas with their families and others either travel to Cape Town, South Africa, or go to the beach city of Swakopmund on the west coast to get a break from the summer heat in Windhoek. Unlike in the US, where December is the busiest shopping month of the year, here December is commercially the least active month of the year because the city is empty. The Polytech is also closed for about 10 days, and everyone leaves except the security guards and guests like myself.

When I found that everyone is gone to celebrate Christmas with their family, I packed my bags for a Namibian safari. Although many people who want to do a safari go to South Africa, Namibia offers the same kind of experience but at a much cheaper price. So if you ever want to do a safari, come to Namibia and save some money.

Our safari group had six people, including my wife. We spent the first day of the safari travelling about 200 miles north of Windhoek to cheetah territory. Several hundred square miles of cheetah range is managed by a conservatory who provides a safe haven to cheetah in the wild, and educates farmers how to live with cheetahs without killing them. In the afternoon we went out in a specially modified vehicle and found some cheetah resting under the trees. My camera worked nonstop to capture every move of this magnificent animal until the rain started pouring and we were forced to retreat to our campsite.

The next day, after driving about 4 hours, we arrived to Etosha National Park. This is one of the biggest national parks in the southern African region. It is spread around 14,000 square miles and is home of hundreds of thousands of animals. We spent two unforgettable days in the park. While driving in the park searching for animals we were fortunate to see a lion family relaxing just 100 ft from the road. It was a very exiting experience to see the king of jungle with two queens (lionesses) and two future kings (cubs) just 100 feet away in the wild. The cubs were doing what most kids do - jumping on their dad. The experience was breathtaking.

After travelling another 50 miles or so we hit another jackpot. This time we encountered a large herd of elephants ready to cross the gravel road we were driving on. There must have been 15-20 elephants in that herd from big bulls to mothers with their young babies. The scene was spectacular as the herd crossed the road while we respectfully yielded them the right of the way. Again, we tried to get as many pictures as we could. Mother elephants sheltered their babies from harm while big bulls walked in front of the herd to protect the family members. The elephants ignored us and continued their journey in search of food and water.

We stayed in Etosha National Park for two nights, and saw zebras and antelope grazing everywhere, and giraffes unsuccessfully trying to hide behind tall trees. That night I sat near a waterhole to catch another glimpse of lions and elephants that come out in the darkness for a drink. I waited till 11:30PM and was about to give up when I suddenly spotted some movement in the darkness on other side of the waterhole. To my surprise, it was a big white rhino! My patience was rewarded in a big way. My camera was mounted on a tripod and I didn’t waste a moment to capture him drinking water. That day we spotted lion, elephants and I saw a rhino; I should have bought a lottery ticket on that day.

The following two days we spent visiting a Himba village and travelling through some of the most magnificent landscapes. Himba is a semi-nomadic tribe who lives in the northern Namibian and southern Angola region. Himba women are famous for covering themselves with a mixture of butter fat and ochre, a red rock power which gives their skins a reddish tinge. After the Himba village, we visited the Twyfelfontein valley in northwest Namibia. This valley is known for Stone Age rock engravings made by early humans of local wildlife animals. It is estimated that these red sandstone rocks were engraved 2000 to 5000 years ago. What an amazing gift of art left by early man for us. Because of its archaeological significance, UNESCO has declared this site a World Heritage Site.

From here, we travelled on the last lag of our trip to the southwestern City of Swakopmund. It is a beautiful city with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and golden sand dunes on the other. The impact of German architecture is apparent everywhere. I spent one afternoon riding motorbikes on the dunes and the next day at the beach taking pictures of seals resting on the rocks with their newborn babies. In the afternoon we all headed back to Windhoek with thousands of pictures and countless memories, which I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Below are some pictures from my safari. Please let me know what you think of these pictures and send me your questions and comments.

A mighty bull leading his herd

Zebra herds also have a leader who makes sure that the

herd is safe from an attack. He alerts other zebras of any

danger.

A leopard eating his kill on a tree. 

The magnificent cat- Cheetah

An antelope in a hurry to have a drink before a lion finds him.

Oryx is the national animal of Namibia

A giraffe on the watch.

A herd of springbok.

The king of jungle waiting for his queens to join him.

No traffic, no risk of being run over by a truck even

in the middle of the highway. Namibian highways

have extremely light traffic. We encountered one vehicle

every 20-25 minute travel.

A Himba village.

A young Himba woman.

My Tour to the Water Reclamation Plant in Windhoek

The City of Windhoek runs three wastewater treatment plants: two plants treat domestic sanitary sewer and one plant is exclusively for industrial effluent. Unlike in Cincinnati, here industrial wastewater is treated separately because the effluent from domestic wastewater is reclaimed for drinking water.

You may remeber from my earlier posts that Windhoek is the only city in the world that directly augments its drinking water supplies with reclaimed water from sewage water. Just like most Americans would be, I was frightened (and intrigued at the same time) at the thought of drinking reclaimed sewer water. So I contacted NamWater (the drinking water people) and the City of Windhoek that owns all of the City’s wastewater plants, through my host, the Polytechnic of Namibia. NamWater is owned by the Government of Namibia, which owns every drop of water in the country, whether on the ground, underground, or in the wastewater treatment plant. I was interested in learning more about the Gammams wastewater treatment plant, as the effluent from Gammams serves as the raw water for the Goreangab reclamation plant. At the Goreangab plant, the water is purified to exceed the US EPA’s drinking water standards before it is blended with drinking water. Talk about a complete water cycle!

Both plants I toured (Gammams and Goreangab), are run to meet international standards. The Gammams wastewater treatment plant is also used to harvest methane gas (this gas is naturally produced during wastewater treatment) to run its own small power generator and meet its electricity demand. But I was most intrigued by the water reclamation plant. I saw effluent flowing out of Gammams wastewater plant into a natural reservoir (maturation ponds) from where it is picked by the Goreangab reclamation plant. Ozone gas is used at least at two times during the process to kill any living organisms and chlorine is also used at least at two steps to sanitize water. During the final step, the water is filtered through a series of extremely fine filters which can remove even residual viruses. The whole process of purification is meticulous and quite impressive. The end product is extremely safe and exceeds drinking water standards. The plant manager proved it by drinking it in front of me (see the picture below).

Some pictures from my trip to Gammams wastewater treatment plant and Goreangab Reclamation Plant are below. Please feel free to send me any questions or comments.

Some wildlife pictures are coming soon!

Gammams Wastewater Treatment Plant

Wastewater coming into the plant

Methane gas collection tank

Wastewater is aerated twice at the Gammams plant. The above picture is of the second aeration process which is much vigorous than the regular aeration process (as done at our MSDGC plants). The second aeration of wastewater is done to inject as much oxygen as possible in the water. After this heavy aeration of sludge water, the solids are separated and effluent is released into the maturation reservoir (pictured below). Because the effluent is going to be purified and mixed with drinking water, it must have high dissolved oxygen contents to meet the standards.

Water maturation reservoir. Effluent from the Gammams WW plant flows into this reservoir where remaining solids and other contaminants are removed naturally. This water slowly flows towards the Goreangab Reclamation Plant. The reservoir water sustains aquatic life (fish), an indication that the water has enough dissolved oxygen.

Effluent, "matured raw water" from the reservoir arriving at the Goreangab Reclamation Plant. It takes about 4 days for the water to arrive to this plant after being released in the reservoir by the Gammams plant.

Final filtration step. A series of extremely fine filters are used in a series to remove any viruses and other biological material that might have survived two doses of ozone followed by chlorine treatments and managed to reach to this point.

Inside look of a filter.

If I can drink it, you can too. Plant Manager, Mr. John Esterhuisen, is demonstrating his confidence in the water purification process by collecting a purified sample and drinking in front of me. (No, I still couldn't find the courage to follow his lead). 

From wastewater to drinking water. The sample on the left is what comes in the reclamation and purification plant from the maturation reservoir and what goes out after purification (sample on right). You can see the difference.

        And finally, a tangled tree at the Gammams WWT Plant

What is the Polytechnic of Namibia?

Namibia has two major centers of learning; University of Namibia (UNam) and The Polytechnic of Namibia, commonly known as Polytech or Poly. Both are located in the capital city of Windhoek. While the University of Namibia offers its students undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses, the Polytech’s primary function is to prepare their students for the workforce through research, teaching, and training. The Polytech offers four-year undergraduate degree (bachelors) courses as well as postgraduate (masters) degree courses in a variety of areas for 15,000 students. The faculty is actively engaged in research, trying to find solutions to local issues ranging from wastewater reclamation to HIV/AIDS control and prevention. For example, when I had a problem with my WiFi connection at my apartment located on the campus, the IT department sent two young “experts” who are majoring in System Administration for on-the-job training. These students will have enough training to be hired by local companies as soon they graduate. The Polytech offers similar study-training programs in many science, business administration, and humanities areas. This is a simple but effective approach, which serves the younger generation of Namibia quite well.

My involvement at The Polytechnic of Namibia.

I am working with two departments: The Department of Engineering Science and the Department of Environmental Health Science.

In the Department of Engineering Science, I will be teaching a course on water quality, wastewater, and public health to students enrolled in the master’s program. The classes will be held on weekends from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Most students who are enrolled in this class will be travelling more than 250 miles one way to attend the classes. These students work fulltime jobs during the week and travel to Windhoek to attend school over the weekend. Now, that’s what I call a commitment! After graduation, these students find better opportunities in their own communities and meet the growing demand for professionals across Namibia.

My affiliation with the department of Environmental Health Science (EHS) is to conduct water quality research in Windhoek and other parts of Namibia. I intend to identify sampling locations and set up a network of water monitoring sites. These sites will help establish the initial baseline of water quality in various parts of Namibia. The department of EHS will continue with follow-up research and monitor sites in the future.

This week I am meeting with the Namibia’s Minister of Agriculture, Water, and Forestry and several high level officials in the Ministry to learn more about their plans to address Namibia’s growing water demands. I will also be meeting with water authorities in Windhoek and will tour treatment plants this week. I will report you back next week about these meetings, so stay tuned!

 My apartment is on the right end on the 7th floor of this 11 story office cum residential building.

Polytechnic Library

Engineering Science Building. I will be teaching classes in this building.

 Science and Technology Laboratory Building. I am working on my research project in this bulding.

It feels good to be in Namibia

Hello to you all from Windhoek (pronounced as wind hook), Namibia!

The long wait is over and I have arrived in Windhoek, Namibia. I will be here till mid-April 2013. As promised, I will be writing about the city of Windhoek, the country of Namibia, its people, the culture, and much more. I will also share the progress of my work as we go along. I hope you will enjoy reading this blog and please let me know if you have any questions.

Geography and Weather

Namibia is a small country in southern Africa. It borders Angola and Zambia in the north, South Africa in the south, and Botswana in the east. The whole west side of Namibia borders the South Atlantic Ocean.

In size, it’s about 20% bigger than Texas but with a population of only 2 million people. Windhoek is the capital city and is home of about 250 thousand residents. Although it has a long coastal line with the South Atlantic Ocean in the west, and two major rivers on the northern and southern boarders, most of country is a desert. Water is the most valuable commodity here. Water is so scarce that the city of Windhoek’s water department reclaims water from wastewater treatment plants and after purifying and sanitizing it, mixes it with the drinking water supplies. I have been drinking this purified water for the past week and doing fine. Despite of such an acute water shortage, all homes have clean running water 24 hours a day. I will talk more about drinking water in my future postings on this blog.

Because Namibia is located in the southern hemisphere, November and December are the peak summer months. Summer in the desert is generally not very pleasant. Namibia is no exception. Daytime temperatures runs around 95 degrees (Fahrenheit) but the nights are a comfortable 65-70 degrees. Don’t run to lower your thermostat; most homes in Namibia have no air-conditioning. Natural wind is the only cooling system. Most new office buildings and malls are centrally cooled just like in the US.

People, Language, and Driving

For someone coming from the US, driving can be very confusing. Namibians drive on the left side of the street. I am slowly trying to undo 26 years of spotless right-hand driving experience in the US, and learn how to legally drive on the wrong side of the street.

Windhoek is a very clean city. I haven’t seen a single piece of trash on the street. People are very conscientious and use trashcans installed on the streets every 100 yards or so. I can say with confidence that this is one of the cleanest cities I have ever visited, including those in the US. People are proud of their country and are committed to make their country one of the most advanced nations on the African continent. People are very polite and soft spoken. Sometimes it appears that they are just whispering while talking. African hospitality is visible everywhere.

English is the official language today, but until its independence from South Africa in 1990, people spoke only Afrikaans; a language derived mainly from Dutch. People were discouraged from learning or speaking English under South African control until 1990. So the older generation can speak or write only Afrikaans while the younger generation is fluent both in English and Afrikaans. I intend to take some classes on Afrikaans so I can communicate with the locals while here and impress you all with my command on Afrikaans when I return home next year.

Next Time

Next week I will write about the Polytechnic of Namibia where I am working. There is so much to talk about this country; the culture, wildlife, landscape, challenges faced by the younger generation, and more. I will also keep you informed about the progress of my research activities. Please let me know if you want to know more about any aspect of this beautiful country. Just post a question or comment on the blog and I will find an answer for you. More to come next week so stay tuned.

Achal

November 19, 2012

Here are some pictures of the city of Windhoek from the balcony of my apartment on 7th floor. You might have noticed that the City is surronded by hills. Click on the picture for a larger view.

Looking north from my apartment

Downtown Windhoek

Another view of downtown. The blue building on the right

is the Metropolitan Namibia building. It's equivalent to our City Hall.

Blue sunny skies in Windhoek. Looking south from my apartment.