Water shortage hits Nebbi town, project design blamed

Nebbi. The National Water and Sewerage Corporation [NWSC] Nebbi area has linked the current water crisis in Nebbi town to the project design which was meant to serve Nebbi’s small urban population.

The area NWSC Engineer Nebbi, Eng Kenneth Rukundo   admitted that the unreliable water supply in Nebbi town is caused by small distribution pipes that the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Environment designed some years back to supply water to a smaller population.

“If water is to be supplied constantly, the whole water system must be changed   to meet water demands in the growing town,” said Rukundo.

Nebbi town was amongst the three small towns namely; Apac, Paidha and Pakwach in the country that government  constructed clean and water plant under small town water and sanitation project in 2008 to address the alarming challenges of clean water coverage  in small towns, but the design is being overwhelmed by the rapid population growth which needs to be changed.

He said, due to the increasing demand of water from water consumers in the growing town and outside town, this has forced NWSC to cover the areas of 273 km beyond their capacity to supply communities hence overwhelming the designed project.

The current households connected with piped water stands at 3221 while the monthly consumption of piped water stands at 44315 cubic meters meaning that, if the pump is boosted, the supplies will have to increase by 50 percent.

He also said, to respond to the unreliable water supply that the current growing population in Nebbi is facing, NWSC is planning to install the rapid sand filter pump from slow pump sand filter   to meet the current water demand in Nebbi town.

“The slow sand  water pump filter was meant to pump water to a smaller population but currently the  pump can’t distribute water to meet the overwhelming needs of the population because of its capacity and there’s need to install the rapid sand water filter pump if we are to have constant water supplies,”  Rukundo said.

He adds that, NWSC is being faced with a number of challenges of mechanical breakdown of machines and unreliable electricity power to run the heavy pumps to distribute water to cover areas mapped by NWSC for water supplies.

According to residents, the unreliable water supplies in town has forced the entire population to spend much of their time walking long distances to look for water from rivers for domestic use.

Some Hotels and school owners who largely depend on piped water   to conduct their businesses since they are the biggest water consumers, have resorted to hiring tukutuku riders to fetch water from rivers due to inconsistent supply of piped water in these dry spells.

Olangi Geoffrey, one of the   residents of Kasuku cell in Abindu division, Nebbi municipality says, in order to access piped water from NWSC, a person must wake up at around 4:00am since during the day, piped water is unavailable.

He adds that the situation is more challenging during school time, making it hard for mothers to prepare   their children for school since they spend most of their time looking for water in this dry spell.

According to Olangi, the unreliable water supply in town is being caused by the extensions of piped water by NWSC outside Nebbi town to the nearby sub counties which were not in the design.

“The water plant in Nebbi town was designed to serve a small population but now NWSC extended pipe water beyond the recommended population designed “Olangi said.

Brain Rwothongeyo, a washing bay operator in Nebbi town says, since Christmas time, he has lost customers due to unreliable water supplies because they are unable to receive water for the whole day.

He adds that when piped water isn’t available, he spends Shs 500 per jerrican in order to serve the few customers who come to the washing bay and this has affected his daily returns.

The most affected areas in Nebbi town, with water challenges are; Kasuku, Angir and some parts of Laji, unjuku upper and Lower cells that are currently being affected with people queuing for water .

However, the Nebbi Municipality MP Hon. Hashim Suleiman said, water must be connected in all villages since bore holes which used to  help  the bigger populations  before were condemned for use and  decommissioned  resulting in a water crisis.

“We have vulnerable members of the communities who can’t survive without water and if there is scarcity of piped water in town they are over charged,” Hashim said.

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