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DEVELOPMENT-UGANDA: Looming Problems With Kampala's Water

Joshua Kyalimpa

KAMPALA, Aug 18 2008 (IPS) - The water supply for two million residents of the Ugandan capital Kampala is threatened by a combination of ill-planned urbanisation and changing rainfall patterns.

Kampala's water comes from both piped water provided by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) and natural springs found in many parts of the city. Both sources are increasingly contaminated.

According to Professor Oweyegha Afunaduula, an environmental activist and professor at Makerere University's Department of Zoology, Kampala has been taken unawares by the effects of climate change. He says the city is receiving unpredictable rains and these conditions have exposed a city poorly planned to handle the effects.

"The hills have been developed into plush residences and the water that flows from the hills has no natural absorbents for excessive rains which later flows into the valleys."

He says this increased run-off causes heavy flooding in the valleys, where the poor people who cannot afford hillside residences have built their homes.

Afunaduula says faeces are getting into the water because most of Kampala's sewage flows untreated into Lake Victoria through the Nakivubo Channel, a huge open watercourse that cuts across the city. The Nakivubo wetland, which used to serve as a natural filter for the waste water, is rapidly shrinking due to rampant encroachment.

Kampala's situation is complicated by the fact that only 8 percent of Kampala residents have access to sewer pipes operated by NWSC.The rest use pit latrines – or in some cases dispose of faeces in polythene bags which are thrown into garbage pits or water channels.

A separate report by the Kawempe division of Kampala city council has revealed that much of the city's water is also contaminated. David Ssemwanga, the divisional health inspector, says all the samples taken from taps in the Kawempe division parishes of Bwaise II, Mulago II and Kyebando revealed the presence of faecal coliform bacteria. This indicates contamination of water supplies due to animal or human waste leaching into water systems.

Elevated levels of faecal coliforms cause cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery, says Robert Odongo, an environment inspector in the Uganda ministry of health. Levels lower than 50 colonies per 100ml are considered safe. The water sample from Kyebando parish showed 64 colonies per 100 ml, the one from Mulago II 58 colonies and Bwaise II 37 colonies.

Cases of cholera have already been reported in Kampala, while some residents complain of stomach upsets. Esther Arego, a resident of another Kampala suburb, Kinawataka, believes that the water from the Mukwano spring well which she uses is not safe, but says she has no alternative.

"What can I do? This is the only source of water around. I could possibly boil it, but that is only for drinking water, what about washing my dishes?"

Arego says she has some stomach problems – and her neighbors have complained too – but she is not sure if this is caused by the water they use.

The spokesperson for the National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Miriam Kadaga, dismisses the reports. "Our water is safe. We have a state of the art water treatment plant and we are upgrading our distribution network. There is no need for alarm because the water does not have bacterial contamination."

But the worrying findings of growing contamination, dovetail with those in a report released recently by international charity Oxfam detailing the impact of climate change, particularly on the country's poor majority both in rural and urban areas.

John Magrath, the lead researcher for Oxfam, says his report, titled "Turning up the Heat," was prompted by flooding last year that particularly devastated parts of eastern Uganda and Kampala.

The report says Kampala and other urban centers in the country will experience frequent floods in the future, increasing the incidence of diseases and deepening poverty.

Elsewhere in the country, the report shows that the glaciers on mountain Rwenzori are melting away and that this has affected the headwaters of many rivers flowing into Lake Victoria and the River Nile.

The ministry for water is reporting that many boreholes that were drilled by government have dried up. The water minister, Miria Mutagamba, says this is because the water table has sunk deeper than the wells.

"We have been installing boreholes that are between 60 and 80 metres deep, but now we are considering recommending between 80 and 100 metres," she says.

But this is impractical in some areas and will almost double the cost of digging boreholes. Mutagamba says this development might undermine the government's intention to provide safe and clean water by 2015, as stipulated in the Millennium Development Goals.