In October 2015, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) reported, citing Namibian newspapers, that Namibia's government was close to buying the desalination plant of the French group Areva. Talks had begun in 2014, and the plant was valued at N$3 billion (about US$220 million). Sited at Wlotzkasbaken, some 30 km north of Swakopmund, it produced 20 million m³ a year (roughly 55,000 m³/day) for the uranium mines of Husab and Rössing in Erongo. Areva had built it for its Trekkopje mine, scaled back in 2011.
The report showed how a plant built for mining turned into a question of public water supply. Annual demand in the Erongo region, about 11 million m³, was well below the plant's capacity.