Africa-Press – Uganda. FRANK OKOT
Residents in Lira City are grappling with water shortage that has entered its fifth day. Some locals in Ojwina Division and Kirombe Parish in Lira City have now resorted to shallow wells.
Ms Colline Ajok of Good Life Restaurant said lack of piped water has made business difficult.
Ms Christine Akello of Bedigen Restaurant in Ober Ward, said they wake up at around 5am and trek for about two kilometres in search of water.
The area manager of National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), Mr Gerazio Tukahirwa, attributed the water shortage to power blackout which occurred on Saturday.
Mr Tukahirwa said whenever there is power outage, they operate at half capacity and this affects their production.
“If there is no power, I run at half capacity, but the demand has doubled. So, now I need more than 10,000 cubic metres of water (10,000 million litres) but my pump can only give me 7,000 million litres per day,” Mr Tukahirwa told Daily Monitor at his office on Wednesday.
He said NWSC can now only produces half of 7,000 million litres of water per day.
“A day without power costs me a lot. It will now take me another three to four days to stabilise the network,” Mr Tukahirwa said.
He, however, said by Thursday, the entire Lira City will start getting water.
There are 12,000 connections in the city serving 80,000 consumers.
Mr Tukahirwa said they have procured powerful generators and pumps and once the installation is completed in three months, their production capacity will improve.
He said their ongoing projects include the purchase and installation of four new pumps of 300 cubic metres per hour and three new pumps of flow 280 cubic metres per hour. [email protected]
