Africa-Press – Uganda. In a bid to extend clean and safe water to rural areas in Ntungamo District, the government, through the Southwestern Umbrella Water Project, has commissioned piped water under the Kahama II Piped Water Supply System with two reservoir tanks.
According to the Ministry of Water and Environment, this is aimed at expanding proper sanitation and hygiene among the increasing population and also promoting socioeconomic transformation among the locals.
The two reservoir tanks, situated at Ruhanga and Nyarukokye villages in Nyabihoko and Nyabushenyi sub-counties in Ntungamo District, have a 150,000-liter capacity each and will, for the next 30 years, serve 70 villages with a population of about 20,000 people.
“This system is going to be sufficient to sustain the demand for its designed life, and after that, we will do a redesign to see what to increase. The two tanks are connected and feeding to the same distribution line,” Eng. Collins Yebazamukama, senior engineer at the Ministry of Water, said.
According to the Ntungamo District Chairperson, Sam Mucunguzi, the water problem in the district affects school operations, health facilities, and households, where many have always had to trek kilometers to fetch water.
“Our schools have been starting classes late because children have to first go and fetch water before classes. Likewise, our health facilities have had to depend on rainwater and fetching from wells, but this will end,” Mucunguzi said.
“So, this umbrella water system will supply water to our villages, and later we shall expand to other villages. People can now access water from their home compounds,” he added.
With the population in Ntungamo increasing rapidly, the Commissioner for Rural Water at the Ministry of Water and Environment, Eng. Joseph Eyatu, challenged the beneficiaries of the project to exercise hygiene and sanitation to achieve the government’s intended goal of clean water in all villages by 2030.
“The population has been rising so fast, higher than what we can implement, but under NDP IV, we hope to move that coverage to a higher level,” Eng. Eyatu said.
“We provide clean water, but the most important thing to us is: does the clean water reach the mouth of every Ugandan as clean as it is? We found out that 60% of this water can be contaminated from here up to your home and mouth,” Eyatu added.
Mandated to manage water systems in rural areas, the Southwestern Umbrella will oversee the connections and maintenance of the water system, as Mugumye Robert, the manager, explains.
“We are going to carry out promotional connections, so every applicant will pay Shs 100,000 for 50 meters from the service line, and that’s for the first 200 applicants. The remaining applicants will incur the total costs and the other requirements,” Mugumye said.
Mugumye adds that for any illegal connections currently ongoing, the system will trace the culprits, who will be enrolled for official payments.
“We shall ensure there is constant supply of water, and we urge the community to support us. We have about 170 illegal connections in number, but they will also pay Shs 100,000 and we shall give those meters.”
Seventy villages are expected to get piped water under this 11-year designed system, and of those, 40 have so far been covered.
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