Dirty water sources expose Kalungu residents to disease

A woman draws water from a muddy water source after digging away the clay. Photo by Beatrice Nakibuuka

What you need to know:

  • As of June 2016, the national safe water coverage in rural areas was estimated at 67 per cent according to the water and environment sector report 2016 and the main technology options used for water supply improvements in rural areas include protected springs, shallow wells, deep boreholes, piped water schemes and piped water schemes, valley tanks and rainwater tanks.

Residents of Kalungu District are more likely to get diseases since access to safe drinking water is a myth in the area.
The district has no piped water and is likely to face an outbreak of water bone diseases because of the use of ponds, streams and other surface sources that are highly contaminated due to poor drainage and little regulation of waste disposal, which compromises their health.
One place in particular is Bulenzi A village found in Lwabenge Sub-county in Kalungu District. The area has greatly been affected by the long drought because there is no piped water. As a result, the residents are forced to collect water from alternative contaminated sources which are likely to cause outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

The only borehole in this area is two kilometres away from Bulenzi village and it serves five villages including Nabwaato, Bulenzi A and B, Ndagi, Twebeere and Kyato.
According to Boniface Lubega a resident of Bulenzi B, the only available borehole is handled with a lot of care because if it is pumped fast without rest, it gets dries up and residents will go without water for some hours.
“The only borehole we have is old. There are times when we pump it and no water flows out of it. Then we have to wait for some good hours for the supply to be restored,” says Lubega.
For the households that have no bicycles or children who can fetch the water, the price of getting a jerrycan of water ranges between Shs500 and Shs1,000 depending on the distance.

I met an old woman who looked about 60 at 10am at the same borehole. She said she walked three kilometres from Nabwaato Village and had to wait for the queue. There was a long queue and the stronger boys and men kept on threatening to fight her if she tried to collect water before they did.
She says, “I came here at 7am but I have to wait for all those jerrycans to be filled.” It was only after sometime that a kind boy offered to help the that she was able to get water.
Experiences
According to Esther Nakaliri, a mother of three, when a child goes to fetch water in the morning they usually return in the afternoon if they do not fetch from the nearby pond.

The problem with the pond is that if you do not fetch from it early, the water gets muddy as many people fetch from it. “You can only get clean water from the swamp very early in the morning. As time goes on, people step in the water while others bring their cows to also drink from the same pond,” says Nakaliri.
There were some boreholes that broke down more than 10 years ago but they have never been repaired because there is no mechanism to repair them.
The functionality of community water sources in Kalungu District, according to Uganda Water and Sanitation NGO Network (UWASNET), is at 58 per cent and John Muwonge, the regional water coordinator for the greater Masaka region acknowledges that Kalungu is a dry area but the sense of ownership of community property has gone down.
According to him, if the malfunction of the borehole does not cost beyond Shs100,000, the community must repair it by itself by collecting a small fee from each household that benefits from the water source.

“Low functionality is a manifestation of operation and maintenance failures. In Uganda, especially in rural areas, the operation and maintenance of water facilities is largely a community responsibility. Users are expected to own and manage their water supply facilities. Where a source has a major breakdown which the community cannot deal with, the Ministry of Water and Environment as well as the local governments, may come in to support,” says Muwonge.
Some residents have resorted to digging ponds and sand dams where they first remove the sand then wait for the water to collect in the area. However, many of these ponds are shared with the cows while others have dried up.

“For families that have many children, protocol bathing is the only way to utilise the scarce water. About four children can use only one litre of water for bathing.The older children bathe first and the young ones last, says John Ddamulira, the LC 1 chairman, Bulenzi B Village. ”


He adds, “Many of the water areas have dried up yet more people plant eucalyptus trees in the swamps. If it does not rain soon, many children are likely to stay home and fetch water instead of going to school.”
UWASNET, a national umbrella organisation for all bodies in the water and environment sector, revealed that it has tirelessly engaged the government to ensure improved access to safe water but this goal has been hindered by a number of challenges.

Why the maintenance system is ineffective

A number of factors have undermined the effectiveness of community based maintenance system for water facilities, according to the Water and Environment Sector Report 2016. These range from inconsistent government policies; dysfunctional water source committees; inadequate numbers and lack of tools for hand pump mechanics; shortage of spare parts dealers; inadequate technical support from district and sub-county staff; unclear ownership of facilities; inappropriate technology choices; inadequate community mobilisation and training.

Access to safe water
As of June 2016, the national safe water coverage in rural areas was estimated at 67 per cent according to the water and environment sector report 2016 and the main technology options used for water supply improvements in rural areas include protected springs (18 per cent), shallow wells (23 per cent), deep boreholes (44 per cent), piped water schemes (gravity-fed) and piped water schemes (pumped) (11 per cent), valley tanks and rainwater tanks.
The same report reveals that more than 10 million Ugandans do not have access to safe water and the population counted as served stands a risk of losing access to safe water. Particularly in rural areas, out of the estimated 109,000 water sources in Uganda, 16,350 sources are not providing water as expected.

Waterborne diseases
These are diseases caused by drinking contaminated or dirty water. They include:
Cholera
Dysentery
Diarrhoea
Typhoid
Guinea worm disease
Hepatitis A
Intestinal worms.