Dry taps in Maracha

• Under the current water policy in Uganda, Cities, municipalities and town councils are not allowed to have boreholes, shallow wells of springs but clean and treated safe water
• While the district has an impressive water coverage of 86 per cent on paper, the reality is the opposite as most boreholes have remained nonfunctional but not decommissioned

By Aluma Aribo

Maracha. As the World celebrate water day, residents of Maracha town council have appealed to the government to change its policy on water supply in urban areas despite the growing demand for clean and safe water.

Under the current water policy in Uganda, Cities, municipalities and town councils are not allowed to have boreholes, shallow wells of springs but clean and treated safe water.

But residents argue that some of the newly created urban centres still remain rural and therefore could be allowed to have shallow wells and springs to complement the erratic water supply.

Rev Denis Adoroti, the Anglican parish priest of Maracha town council said on Friday that some areas in town council are remote and cannot receive piped water.

“Some of these policies need to be addressed. If the district council can sit and review these policies and send them to parliament so that some of the areas which are not urban but are in town council are remote can benefit from other water opportunities would be very good,” Rev Adoroti said.

He said they have often received opportunities from well-wishers to dig for them shallow wells and boreholes as a result of challenges they face but because of the government policy, the opportunities have been taken elsewhere as they continue to suffer with water.

Ms Grace Amviko, a resident of Maracha town council, said children have to go with water for drinking from homes to schools because the boreholes in schools have also dried.

We leave our homes from 10am up to 3am to go for water and still our spouses do not trust that we have gone for water. The tap water is rationed, and the volume is always very low especially during dry seasons like this, yet those who fetch from it are very many.

The Sub- County chairman of Nyadri South, Jimmy Oraku, castigated some parliamentary aspirants in the area who are repairing boreholes which were abandoned long ago and supposed to be decommissioned as being enemies of good health of the locals.

The Assistant Water Officer for Maracha town council, Samson Anguzu, explained that the current low water supply is caused by the inefficiency in the pump capacity to pump more water as a result of a mistake that was done by the drillers.

But Justus Aduma Yero, one of the directors of PHASE2, an organization that deals in issues of Education, water and sanitation in Somalia, Kenya and Uganda said water has always been a big problem in Maracha district and that many villages do not have access to clean and safe water.

“We are happy that our partners are able to support projects so that our people can have improved access to safe and clean water. Access to clean and safe water is a right which should not be denied. We need to find solutions to save the communities,” Aduma said.

The district secretary for Water and Roads, Charles Waga, revealed that while the district has an impressive water coverage of 86 per cent on paper, the reality is the opposite as most boreholes have remained nonfunctional but not decommissioned.

“We remain vulnerable as far as water issues are concerned. The government needs to change this policy so that even boreholes are drilled in the town councils. We also need more connection to piped water,” he said.