THE water and environment minister has urged Ugandans with no access to safe water, to harvest rainwater.
Maria Mutagamba said rainwater was safe for drinking because it is not contaminated by containers. “Water harvesting should become an item on the agenda of local governments. Instead of complaining about the expensive tap water from the Government,” she said.
Mutagamba was on Friday commissioning a sh500m tap water project in Nakifuma town in Mukono district.
The project was pledged by President Museveni in the 2006 elections.
Mutagamba said access to safe water had improved since the NRM government came to power.
“In 1986, only 16% of the population had safe water. Today, 68% of the population in urban centres access safe water,” she said.
The district chairperson, Francis Lukooya Mukoome, urged the Government to take piped water to the people on the islands.
He cited Bugaya Island, saying only 1.8% of the population had access to safe water. At Bwema and Nairambi only 2.0% and in Buvuma 26% accessed clean water.
“The is at a risk of contracting waterborne diseases and has made maintaining sanitation difficult,” he said.
Four community water public kiosks were constructed to cater for the 18,000 people in the area and about 83 households had been connected to piped water.
