Dry water taps in Gulu Town leave businesses on bended knee

Evelyn Acaa, 40, a resident of Pece Vanguard who sells vegetables at Wilobo market in Pece Division, Gulu District has been at home for the past week. Not that she is unwell, but has decided to remain in the confines of her home because of the water shortage that has hit the district.
She says she would rather spend the day looking for water than spend it at her stall. “I have not been to the market today (Tuesday) because I have no water. I took my jerrycans at a water point and some people are watching over them. I don’t know whether I will get water because people are many, but at least I will not sell until I get water,” Acaa told Daily Monitor in an interview.
Acaa is one of the many business persons within the municipality who are counting losses as a result of the water shortage.

Genesis
Residents of Gulu District are experiencing severe water shortage following the prolonged dry spell that has hit the district. This has been the worst water shortage to hit the district in 23 years.
The cause for the shortage is because Oyitino Dam, located in Patiko Sub-county, has dried up. The dam supplies National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) water to the municipality residents.
The more than 139,000 residents who depend on the water supplied by NWSC have since resorted to spring wells and boreholes as taps remains dry for more than a week.

Impact
In all the four Divisions of Pece, Bardege, Layibi and Laroo, it is business unusual. Some of the locals have had to abandon their duties to look for water for domestic use. Sights of jerrycans in long lines at the few boreholes and spring wells are common as residents flock water points in search of water. According to Acaa, her daily sales are between Shs30,000 and Shs50,000 with a profit of Shs15,000. But she says, all this is worthless if there is no water.

Samuel Opira, the manager Home Town Hotel, said the water scarcity has affected their profit margin since they incur high costs in ensuring there is water at their hotel.
He said in a day, the hotel spends Shs45,000 to hire a vehicle to fetch water from Koro Sub-county (about 6 km) from the municipality which is an expensive venture.
Opira explained that last week, the hotel spent Shs315,000 on water. The hotel on average pays about Shs250,000 to NWSC per month.
“The money we are spending to buy water is too expensive. That is money which could otherwise have been paid out as salary,” Opira lamented.

Brian Ocheng, the manager of Free Zone Hotel in Gulu Municipality, said much as they have not been directly affected by water shortage since they harvest water underground, they are feeling the pinch of hiked prices for fresh foods.
“Our suppliers of vegetables have increased prices because of the dry spell. Prices of other commodities have even increased by 100 per cent which is affecting our business,” Ocheng said.
He added that other vegetables are not being supplied because of the weather conditions which are also a disadvantage for their customers.
Prices of water has since sky-rocketed in the past days with a jerrycan now going for between Shs500 and Shs1,000 at commercial boreholes and water points.

Why did the dam dry up?
James Ochaka, the Gulu Municipal environment officer, said although this year’s drought has affected water tables, it is locals encroaching on wetlands within the municipality is to blame for the water shortage.
He said residents around Oyitino stream have for long been carrying out sand mining and stone quarrying that affects the natural flow of water.

“Many gullies have been opened due to the stone quarrying while sand mining directly affects the water levels from the stream that supplies water to Oyitino Dam. Residents have been doing this for long and it was bound to affect water levels at the dam,” Ochaka said.
Ochaka added that many residents have also been heavily carrying out gardening in areas close to Oyitino dam and other wetlands within the municipality which accounts for a greater percentage of the rainfalls received in the Municipality.
“More than 50 per cent of the wetlands in the municipality have been encroached on and destroyed. This affects the water cycle and rain formation in the area which has led to the drought,” Ochaka said.

Situation at Oyitino Dam
The weather impact has had a toll on the aquatic lives at Oyitino Dam most especially fish that have died. By Monday (last week), piles of decomposing dead fish were left scattered at the banks of the now muddy dam.
The dead fish had created an unbearable stench, sending many residents into fear of disease outbreak.
Thankfully, on Thursday, some of the fish were removed and burnt by Uganda People’s Defense Forces soldiers. The soldiers were accompanied NWSC engineers.
It’s estimated that close to two million fish died from the dam which also serves the fish consuming population in the Municipality.

Institutions operating on bended knee
Normal operations at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital and Gulu University main campus have been disrupted due to the water shortage in the municipality.
Gulu hospital that has a total of 14 units had to close its lavatories due to the water scarcity forcing the hospital management to borehole water for alternatives.
According to Nathan Onyachi, the hospital director, the facility needs 14,000 litres of water daily but has not been possible because of the crisis.
Dr Onyachi noted that the water crisis poses a potential threat to spread of diseases resulting from poor hygiene in the toilets since they are lacking water.

Michael Onencan who is taking care of his child at Gulu Hospital decried the conditions at the facility.
“We sometimes have to travel outside the hospital to get water yet most water points are congested,” Onencan said.
At Gulu University, the university’s management also had to close some of the washrooms while works in laboratories have been disrupted.
The university deputy public relations officer, Mahmud Khalid, said they resorted to buying water from outside as an alternative means to address the problem but noted that it was enough to sort out the problems. He said on average, they use 30,000 litres of water at Shs600,000.

Foul-smelled water
On Thursday evening, residents in selected areas within the Municipality briefly received tap water from NWSC after more than four days, however, the stench emitted from the water is awful.
Christine Aber a resident of Pece Vanguard, Pece Division said the water she fetched on Thursday could not be used for cooking because of its foul smell.
“I fear using this water, we heard that many fish died in the dam and this awful smell proves it. We fear that if this water is not treated,” Aber said.

Gulu Hottest district
According to the weather report released by Uganda National Meteorological Authority early this month, Gulu District recorded the highest temperature in the country in February at 35.8 degrees centigrade.
Weather experts, however, had predicted that Gulu District, among other northern Ugandan districts currently experiencing dry spells, will endure the spell until mid-March.
The rising temperatures are being attributed to global warming where human activities like setting up industries, agriculture, vehicles, among others, emit dangerous gases such as carbondioxide and methane into the atmosphere.
Gulu is the second most populated town in Uganda with an estimated population of more than 200,000 people. There are growing concerns that if the available wetlands are not protected, the region is bound to go through severe drought.

Other factors
Ochaka faulted NWSC management for only concentrating on water production without conserving the environment around it.
“NWSC must look into conservation and protection of wetlands. Stakeholders must be involved because it’s not only an NWSC initiative but everyone has to contribute to ensure that nature is not destroyed,” Ocahaka observed.
Gulu Municipality Mayor, George Labeja blamed the water company for putting their eggs in one basket.
“Oyitino Dam was constructed in the late 1960s but up to now no other dam has been constructed to supplement water supply. We have had serious discussions with NWSC officials for them to drill at least 20 boreholes where water can be pumped in case of emergency but nothing happened,” Labeja said.
Labeja advised residents and business operators to drill underground water that can be pumped in times of emergencies such as these.

Storage capacity
Currently, NWSC has a total storage capacity of 6,235 m3 with reservoirs located at Boma, Pece, Army Barracks, Customs Corner and Lacor in Gulu Municipality.
This storage capacity is enough to cater for the daily demand of water for both domestic use and production which is estimated to be about 15,000m3/day.
However, Labeja explained that failure by NWSC to derive alternatives will translate into unreliable supply of water to the growing population in Gulu. The district has an average growth of 5.2 per cent annually.

Interventions
Late last week, engineers from NWSC pitched camp at Oyitino in a desperate attempt to restore water supply.
A statement issued by the corporation’s public relations officer Samuel Apedel, blamed the water shortage on the prolonged dry spell. “This is an extreme weather event. The prolonged severe drought has starved Oyitino Dam of rainfall. Whereas Gulu suffers decline in water supply during the dry season, the dam has never dried up in all the 23 years of NWSC operations in Gulu,” the statement reads in part.

Paul Rackara, the NWSC Gulu branch manager said water production had dropped to barely 1.5 million cubic litres of water from 2.8 million cubic litres in one week. He was optimistic that the situation would be restored soon.
NWSC management says two sources of underground water in Onang and Mican in Bardege Division have been identified to boost supply of water in the municipality.
The corporation has finished studies to construct a second dam in another catchment area in Oyitino as well as extending the existing capacity of Oyitino Dam.
Plans are also underway to build infrastructure to pump water from River Nile but the work will begin in 2019.

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