CoW sues Namibia Dairies for N$24.5m over 2019 Gammams oil spill
The case in which the City of Windhoek (CoW) is seeking more than N$24.5 million in damages from Namibia Dairies, linked to a heavy fuel oil spill, returned to court for pretrial proceedings, as the municipality detailed the environmental, infrastructural and financial fallout from the incident.
According to court documents, the dispute stems from a spill of about 24 cubic metres, or roughly 24 000 litres, of heavy fuel oil at Namibia Dairies’ factory in early February 2019.
The oil is alleged to have leaked through a boiler filter, flooded the boiler room, and drained into both the municipal sewer system and the river adjacent to the factory.
The City of Windhoek alleges that the spill caused direct damage to the sewer infrastructure, with residual heavy fuel oil adhering to concrete surfaces inside the sewer line, resulting in long-term impairment of the system and environmental harm.
The contamination is said to have travelled through the sewer network and reached the Gammans Water Care Works, the city’s main wastewater treatment facility.
Court papers state that by the time the spill was detected and reported, a quantity of heavy fuel oil had already passed through the inlet works and entered the primary settling tanks at Gammans, damaging the plant’s biological treatment processes.
As a result, the municipality says it was forced to divert contaminated sewage away from the biological processes to prevent further system failure.
That diversion, the city claims, triggered a cascade of operational failures. Contaminated sewage flooded low-lying areas of the Gammans facility, forcing the shutdown of biogas production and the sludge belt press for 32 days.
Polluted sewage also entered the river adjacent to the B-series ponds feeding the reclamation plant and seeped into the B1 pond, allegedly resulting in fish deaths.
The city further alleges that contaminated sewage was diverted to an evaporation pond, which overflowed into the Goreangab Dam, causing an oil film on the dam and affecting surrounding flora and fauna.
The cumulative impact led to a complete shutdown of the Gammans Water Care Works for 19 days, during which no wastewater treatment could be carried out, and no treated sewage was available for reclamation at the New Goreangab Reclamation Plant.
The Otjomuise plant, which receives waste streams from Gammans, was also unable to operate during this period.
Most of the heavy fuel oil contamination at Gammans and associated infrastructure, including the B-series ponds and the Goreangab Dam, was later skimmed off and disposed of at the Kupferberg landfill, according to the municipality.
Fixed charges
In its summons, the City of Windhoek is claiming N$7.04 million in clean-up and remediation costs. These include expenses for emergency response activities, biosolids treatment, bioenergy losses, industrial clean-up contractors, hazardous waste disposal, sewerage reticulation repairs, and river clean-up operations along the St Michaels River and adjacent sites.
In addition, the city is claiming a further N$17.49 million for water lost to production over 20 days, calculated at wastewater treatment tariffs.
This figure also reflects the cost difference between water purchased from NamWater and water supplied by the Windhoek Goreangab Operating Company, as well as daily fixed charges incurred during the shutdown period.
The municipality bases its claim on both statutory and delictual grounds. It argues that the spill constitutes environmental damage under the National Environmental Management Act, an accidental spill of pollutants under the Water Resources Management Act, and a prohibited discharge under the City of Windhoek’s sewerage and drainage regulations.
The city further alleges that Namibia Dairies acted negligently by failing to take adequate steps to prevent the spill, including proper inspection and testing of plant equipment, failing to isolate the boiler room drains from the sewer line, and failing to ensure that containment infrastructure around the boiler room was sufficient to prevent contamination of nearby watercourses.
As a result, the City of Windhoek is seeking payment of N$24.53 million, interest at a rate of 9.75% from the date of service of summons, legal costs, and further relief deemed appropriate by the court.
The matter has been set down for further pretrial processes.
