Water shortage hits 3000 Mbarara homes

By Fred Turyakira

MBARARA - Residents of Mbarara town and Kaberebere in Isingiro district have been short of water since Saturday following a technical fault on the water pump at Ruharo main water station.

Now the over 3000 affected homes which do not have reserve tanks in place, and hotels in the area are collecting water from River Rwizi during daytime.

The area National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) acting manager, Joseph Mugenyi, says the new water pump supply, donated by the energy ministry this year, developed a mechanical problem that cut off the supply to Boma water reserve tank in Mbarara town.

The supply was put in place to boost the productivity and water supply at Ruharo main water station.

“We switched to our old Phase Three water pump when the new one developed a mechanical problem over the weekend.

“However the old pump cannot pump enough water to sustain the supply of water, with the big demand in town outside Mbarara,” explainedMugenyi.

 He said they purchased spares in Nairobi, Kenya and engineers were working around the clock to rectify the problem on Wednesday.

NWSC in the area is also working around a silting problem that blocked and covered foot valves taking water to the water pump at Kabale road water station.

The team hired divers to clear the silt.

Mugenyi placed blame on human activities along River Rwizi catchment areas for causing silting and lowering of water levels in the water body.

As expected, NWSC customers in the affected areas are bombarding the national water utility with concerned calls after spending four days without water.

The water corporation has called for patience as they rectify the problem, promising the residents to have water supply back to normal on Thursday.

But still, the NWSC manager advised homes on water security. He urged the public to have in place emergency containers or tanks filled with water in their homes all the time, which should come in handy during such crises.

Mugenyi also directed an appeal to stakeholders and River Rwizi catchment protection committee to intervene and block people from cultivating on river banks, saying that Mbarara would be no more if they keep on tampering with the river catchments.