Water connection: What you must know
WATER is life and every drop counts. Surprisingly, many people who can afford to have flowing water in their homes do not have it because of the bureaucracies involved in having water connected.
BY SAMUEL LUTWAMA
WATER is life and every drop counts. Surprisingly, many people who can afford to have flowing water in their homes do not have it because of the bureaucracies involved in having water connected.
Subsequently, many people are reluctant to pursue water connection despite its cost-effectiveness. Abbey Sserunkuma, a water engineer, says the process of connecting water to a home takes less than three weeks if all the requirements have been met by the customer.
They include filling out forms issued by National Water and Sewarage Corporation (NWSC), presenting the land title confirming ownership of the premises and a letter from the local council.
After submitting in the application forms, engineers from NWSC survey the site and present a report reviewed by the branch engineer.
The report is either approved or rejected. If it is approved, a payment invoice is issued and the customer’s file is forwarded for trenching.
Trenching is done by contractors, but a customer can also do it for himself and NWSC just inspects the work in terms of quality and approves.
Sserunkuma says a customer is expected to pay a connection charge of sh105,000 if the site is in the radius of 50 metres.
Extra costs accruing from extra metres are settled by the applicant besides the official connection fee. For new water connections, metallic pipes are discouraged, citing cases of rusting and clogging which are harmful to health.
“We now use plastic pipes after receiving various complaints on metallic pipes,†Sserunkuma says. After the connection is done, the onus of handling water at your home is your responsibility.
Internal house plumbing and water connection is done by a plumber of the customer’s choice. Initially, the cooperation would provide plumbers, but after some loopholes were cited, the whole project was left in the hands of the customer.
Fred Walyaula, a plumber, says what follows after the external connection has been done is important. To begin with, a storage tank can be put in place to regulate the water supply internally.
“Water from the storage tank can easily be regulated for domestic consumption†walyaula advises.
WATER is life and every drop counts. Surprisingly, many people who can afford to have flowing water in their homes do not have it because of the bureaucracies involved in having water connected.
Subsequently, many people are reluctant to pursue water connection despite its cost-effectiveness. Abbey Sserunkuma, a water engineer, says the process of connecting water to a home takes less than three weeks if all the requirements have been met by the customer.
They include filling out forms issued by National Water and Sewarage Corporation (NWSC), presenting the land title confirming ownership of the premises and a letter from the local council.
After submitting in the application forms, engineers from NWSC survey the site and present a report reviewed by the branch engineer.
The report is either approved or rejected. If it is approved, a payment invoice is issued and the customer’s file is forwarded for trenching.
Trenching is done by contractors, but a customer can also do it for himself and NWSC just inspects the work in terms of quality and approves.
Sserunkuma says a customer is expected to pay a connection charge of sh105,000 if the site is in the radius of 50 metres.
Extra costs accruing from extra metres are settled by the applicant besides the official connection fee. For new water connections, metallic pipes are discouraged, citing cases of rusting and clogging which are harmful to health.
“We now use plastic pipes after receiving various complaints on metallic pipes,†Sserunkuma says. After the connection is done, the onus of handling water at your home is your responsibility.
Internal house plumbing and water connection is done by a plumber of the customer’s choice. Initially, the cooperation would provide plumbers, but after some loopholes were cited, the whole project was left in the hands of the customer.
Fred Walyaula, a plumber, says what follows after the external connection has been done is important. To begin with, a storage tank can be put in place to regulate the water supply internally.
“Water from the storage tank can easily be regulated for domestic consumption†walyaula advises.