Mbarara Hospital gets sh600m water project

By Fred Turyakira

Water crisis at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital will no longer be a problem once the sh630m water of life project is complete.

Uganda Breweries limited in partnership with Mbarara regional referral hospital have launched a sh630m water project to improve water supply at the hospital.

The project is funded by Uganda Breweries and Diageo Foundation as part of company’s water of life programme.

According to Alasdair Musselwhite, the managing director, Uganda Breweries, the construction work for the water project programme will commence in July 2013 and expected to be complete before the end of the year.

A 248,000-litre capacity water harvesting, storage, treatment and distribution system will put in place.

The complete rain water harvesting system entails a 200,000 litres underground tank, two overhead tower tanks each with 24,000litres capacity, water treatment and filtration, pumping and distribution systems across the hospital.

 “At UBL, we work to reduce water poverty in our communities by becoming a positive contributor to the stewardship of water resources through substantial water management and working with others to accelerate progress on water and sanitation millennium development goals,” Mussel White said.

“This project alone will benefit 600,000 people annually. The total number of beneficiaries of UBL sponsored water project will grow from about 770,000 to over 1,300,000 upon completion of the Mbarara hospital project,” he added.

Dr. George Upenytho, the Mbarara hospital director, commended UBL for the timely intervention saying water is a big challenge at the facility.

“The hospital has only two overhead water tanks serving a population of over 6.4 million people. Your support will increase the water capacity to serve a large number of patients in a cleaner environment,” Dr. Upenytho said.

Mbarara Municipality mayor, Wilson Tumwine, hailed the water project.