Power outage disrupts water supply in Kakiri

By Noah Jagwe and Juliet Lukwago    

Kakiri town council residents have decried inadequate water supply in the area due to constant power outages. 

The mayor of the town council, Hajji Kisekka Mohamed said the area is limited to only five hours of water supply a day instead of at least 12 hours.

The area is home to a population of over twenty thousand people and the number is still growing.

“Electricity is still a problem we would have tried but that is the problem,” Kisekka explains.

He says power shortage coupled with a few water pumps is an obstacle to efforts to increase water supply in the area.

Currently the present water pump at Mpegwe distributes 60,000 to 80,000 litres, a capacity way short of the required 1,500,000 litres for the entire area.

“We are a fast-growing town council in the country due to the availability of water in some of our areas,”Kisekka notes.

But, according to him, high electricity bills are also still making it difficult for water services to meet the locals’ satisfaction.

Amid the challenges, the mayor is optimistic that with the existing possibility of procurement of the new pumps by the ministry of water and environment, water supply will probably improve.

In a related development, over twenty-five districts with in the Central and Bunyoro regions are set to benefit from a Water and Sanitation Development Facility project.

The project is a funding mechanism by the ministry of water and environment for water and sanitation investments at community level to improve the socio-economic situation for people living in small towns and rural growth centres.

It was brought to light during a field tour of water supply systems by MPs from Austria. The tour by the development partners was to establish whether the funds are allocated to the intended projects in the in the area.

The head of the delegation, Silhavy Heidlu said they are happy with the progress of the water projects in the area.

“As a team we now know where our money goes,” Heidlu said.