In the highlands of Namibia an epic struggle between the indigenous Himba people and the Namibian government is being waged. Perhaps fittingly for a country prone to drought, this conflict is over water - and how to use it best.

After surviving drought, war, genocide and other disasters, the most serious threat to the existence of the Himba is the proposed Epupa Falls Dam which the Namibian government says will produce around 200 megawatts of power for Namibians inland - but will destroy the Himba way-of-life in the process.

Earth Report asked South African filmmaker, Craig Matthew, to document the struggle for the Cunene River valley.

The power of water

Although the Epupa Dam is expected to produce 200 megawatts of power, output will be considerably less during arid years - a serious problem facing all southern African hydroelectric projects.

The reservoir for the huge dam could inundate as much as 350 square kilometers of land, forcibly displace up to 1,000 people and affect thousands more.

Although funding for the scheme, estimated at N$2.67 billion, is not yet in place, the Namibian government seems doggedly intent on building this scheme.

Valley of the dammed: the Himba

For more than 500 years Namibia's Cunene River valley, site of the proposed Epupa Falls hydroelectric dam project, has been the ancestral home of 12,000 semi-nomadic Himba people.

If the Epupa Dam goes ahead the Himba not only face forcible relocation but a loss of their pastoral, spiritual and ceremonial land.

Impact on the Himba: Spiritual destruction

The main objection to a dam at Epupa is the flooding of 160 Himba graves. For the Himba a grave site represents more than a mere burial ground but a focal point for defining identity, social relationships and relationships with the land, as well as being a centre for important religious ceremonies. Although the graves could be exhumed, the Himba believe that relocation will destroy the significance of the graves just as much as flooding would.

Impact on the Himba: Losing land

As pastoral herders, the Himba have grazed cattle and cultivated crops along the Cunene River Vallery for hundreds of years. Along with loss of rangeland, flooding the Cunene River valley will displace 1,000 'permanent' and up to 5,000 'occasional' Himba people.

And the effects of relocation will be felt farther than the Cunene valley itself.

Cattle displaced by the dam will need around 17,500 hectares of permanent grazing land elsewhere and up to 70,000 hectares in times of drought - placing enormous pressure on other grazing areas and affecting the drought strategies of around 10,000 Himba.

Impact on the Himba: Lifestyle threat

A dam needs building - and that needs a labour force. An estimated 1,000 workers will be needed for construction of the dam. But a greater social impact will come from the temporary construction town needed to house around 5,000 people - the workers, their families and related businesses.

And with large settlements come even bigger social problems - erosion of traditional life, crime, alcoholism, prostitution and the spread of HIV - a disease as yet undetected in the Himba community.

A third way?

Although the Epupa dam could make Namibia self-sufficient in power the reality is very different. Namibia's sharp fluctuations in annual rainfall will mean that power production could fall well short of targets during periods of extended drought.

An added irony is that although the Epupa dam should provide more water for Namibians inland - it will also be the scene of water wastage on a massive scale. With one of the highest evaporation rates in the world, roughly 900 million cubic metres of water will be lost by evaporation from the dam surface every year.

But is there a simple, cheaper and environmentally sensible alternative to integrate both power generation and provision of water which would make the Epupa dam project unnecessary? Yes.

Environmental groups have put forward a package of desalinization and natural gas projects which would cut the cost of the existing schemes by around N$966 million and protect the Himba way-of-life.

The Namibian government has yet to decide whether to build a dam at Epupa Falls.