As the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia's arid climate coupled with high evaporation rates has a great impact on water availability and reliability. Water scarcity continues to be a serious constraint in achieving the economic, environmental and social development objectives. With highly variable and unpredictable rainy seasons, the first priority is given to water for domestic purposes including livestock; and the second priority given to water for economic activities such as mining, industries and irrigation. Water demand in 2015 was estimated at about 334.1 million cubic meters per year and is projected to reach 583.4 and 771.7 million cubic meters per year by 2025 and 2030 respectively. Irrigation accounts for about 60% of water consumption and will remain the main consumer over the next ten years. Given the trend of migration, urban domestic water demand (including manufacturing and industry) is estimated to increase. Where We Are Going Desired Outcome By 2022, Namibia has a sustainable production and consumption of water resources resulting in improved access to safe drinking water for human consumption and for industry use. Each rural constituency will have water access of above 50%. Desired Outcome indicators and targets Indicator %Urban access to safe drinking water * Rural access to safe drinking water Baseline 98.3% (2016) 84.0% (2016) 2017/18 98.3% 85.0% Targets over the NDPS Period 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 99.0% 98.6% 98.8% 88.0% 90.0% 92.0% 2021/22 100% 95% Challenges Aging water infrastructure and the development of the water infrastructure is one of the challenges which need to be addressed urgently. Furthermore, pollution of water courses and groundwater aquifers is a challenge that needs to be prevented to avoid contamination of potable water sources. The biggest challenge facing the country is to make significant improvements in water demand management and promote water saving measures that influence changes in customer behavior. There is room to minimise water losses in pipelines, treatment facilities and distribution networks. Namibia's four perennial rivers are located at the borders with neighboring countries and form part of shared watercourses. This makes it difficult for Namibia to fully access the watercourses for Namibia's use.