Africa-Press – Uganda. For several years, residents of Adibo Village, Arafa Sub-county in Yumbe District, had endured walking five kilometres in search of water.
However, with the commissioning of a solar-powered water project on Wednesday, their suffering is over.
The area had for years lacked safe and clean water due to a sandy landscape that made it difficult to drill boreholes. The locals had resorted to sharing water from the streams with animals.
Ms Faridah Driwaru, a resident of Adibo Village, said most residents would collect water from Oya stream.
“We used to collect water from the stream, which is equally used by the animals. We can no longer go back again to get water in such situation and with this water, our hope has been restored by the government,” Ms Driwaru said.
She added: “We used to suffer together with our school children because of water shortage. They would always go late to school. This absenteeism would greatly affect both teachers and pupils. This year our children’s performance will improve, I am confident about it”.
The head teacher of Dramba Primary School in Yumbe, Ms Doris Tiko, said: “We used to scoop sand first in order to harvest water for domestic use. There are a few boreholes that are working, with many now broken down.”
She added the water shortage was a leading cause of domestic violence and family breakups. She said some men would beat up their wives after they took long to return from their search for water.
The Yumbe District chairperson, Mr Abdulmutalib Asiku, said: “The connection to the 180 households leaves us with challenges of lobbying for other communities that equally do not have clean and safe water. Every financial year we keep receiving money under sector conditional grants in the water sector and I want to commit that every financial year we allocate for the extension of this pipe water system within Arafa Sub-county.”
The site manager at Akvo International, Mr Daniel Eberu, said the project comprises two phases and 180 households have been connected, including three primary schools.
The deputy Director for United Nations Capital Development Fund, Ms Jennifer Bukokhe, asked authorities to protect and maintain the water sources.
She said: “We are hoping this water point will help to reduce the water-borne diseases in the community. The women will now have access to clean and safe water which will be readily available for cooking. Children will also reduce time wastage at water points.”
She added: “When the water is close to communities, domestic violence will equally be reduced.”
The Minister of State for Northern Uganda, Ms Grace Kwiyucwiny, said: “We need to promote better life in our community. The support of the water project should be maintained. The water user committees should ensure that there is no vandalism to the systems.”
The Shs1.9 billion solar-powered piped water system was constructed by the Ministry of Local Government with support from European Union and development partners under Development Initiative for Northern Uganda.
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