Water shortage has hit Luweero district following the breakdown of boreholes and failure by the water department to fix them.
Residents are sharing water points with animals and in some areas a jerrycan of water has reached 500 shillings due to the breakdown of the boreholes and delay in repairing them.
The Luweero water officer, Robert Kalenzi says that over 100 boreholes break down each year and but the sector can do little because of insufficient funding.
Kalenzi says that the breakdown is a result of the overstrain of the few boreholes being used by many people. He explains that the whole district has only 1178 boreholes and they are shared by over 400,000 people.
Kalenzi adds that one borehole which is supposed to serve 200 people has now doubled the users leading to breakdown. The water officer notes that the budget for the district water department is too small to attract repairs and construction of new water points. The sector is expecting to receive 415 million shillings in the financial year 2011/2012.
//Cue out: This financial year…
Cue out…of Luweero.”//
However residents accuse the officials in the district water unit of negligence and failure to repair minor breakdowns leading to permanent collapse of the boreholes.
Sam Kagolo, a resident of Kamira Sub County says that their borehole broke down last year and they submitted their complaint to the officials but nothing has been done. He adds that water officials have never inspected the boreholes to assess the problem. The breakdown of the borehole has raised the price of water, with a jerrycan now costing 500 shillings, up from100 shillings.
Livingstone Kateregga, the Kamira Sub County chairman says that residents have resorted to sharing water with cattle in the ponds. He warns that if the government does not intervene early the sub county will face disease outbreak due to consumption of dirty water.
The other Sub Counties affected include Butuntumula, Kikyusa, Nyimbwa, Kamira and Kalagala.
According to the water officer, 41% of the residents in Luwero have no access to safe water.
