Masaka taps dry up as water crisis persists for a week

Masaka Municipality has run out of water, forcing several people to trek long distances or turn to unsafe water sources in search of the scarce resource.

With the scarcity, residents are currently spending more productive hours in queues at wells.
Some of the affected villages include Kimaanya, Bwala, Kumbu, Soweto Zone, Bata Cell, Gayaza, Katwe, Kitovu and Nyendo.
A 20-litre jerrycan of water now goes for Shs700 yet ordinarily, a home requires about three jerry cans of water a day to run.

Ms Nuriat Senabulya, a resident of Kimaanya in Kyabakuza Division yesterday said she has spent four days without running water in her home.
“When I sent my younger sister to fetch water at the spring well at Kameketta, she spent almost a day in the queue and returned with only a 10-litre jerrycan,” she said yesterday.

One week now
Mr John Ssebwato, also a resident, said the water crisis has affected many of their programmes.
“We are spending much time looking for water and National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) has not come out to explain the crisis,” he said.

According to Mr Elvis Banadda, a resident of Mukudde Zone in Nyendo said the problem started last week.
“Last week, the pressure at our tap gradually reduced. Now the tap has run dry. Many of my neighbours have resorted to drawing water from an unprotected well along Bukakkata road which is about 3km away” he said.

Demonstrating the magnitude of the problem, Mr Jude Kayiwa, the head teacher of Uganda Martyrs Primary School said in just three days, their underground tank has become empty and they are currently hiring private water trucks to draw water from nearby wells.
Ms Sumin Nabadduka, a resident of Kumbu Village, said she would be facing the same crisis had she not stored some water.

NWSC speaks out
The NWSC area engineer, Mr Mr Rajab Bugembe, attributed the crisis to a faulty motor at their main water pump on Bwala hill.
“The breakdown of the Bwala plant was a big blow to us since it supplies almost 75 per cent of our clients within the town and its environs. This has forced us to start rationing water and only supply it during the night,” he said yesterday.

Mr Bugembe added that the problem has been exacerbated by dirty run-off water which poured into Nabajjuzi swamp where they draw water from.
“We therefore had to leave the water to settle other than pumping dirty and contaminated water. But we are working around the clock to rectify the problem and our system will resume fully by Wednesday (today)” he said.