Residents of Kabaale parish in Buseruka Sub County Hoima district are crying foul over inadequate water sources as they continue to queue in lines to get a jerrycan of water.
According to local leaders, the whole parish had four boreholes but the three eventually broke down five months ago leaving the area with a single water source in Kabaale village.
Being the only water source serving about ten villages, residents queue to get a jerrycan of water as they have to wait for more than an hour.
A single borehole at Kabaale serves the villages of Nyakatooke, Rwenyonyi, Kyengiri,Kitengeta, Rwenyonyi, Kyengiri, Kyangire One, Kyangire Two and Kyapaloni which have a total population of about 20,000 people.
The locals say this has at times resulted into domestic violence, fights and immoral acts. They demand that government repairs the defunct water sources and construct new ones to cater for the growing population due to the area’s proximity to the oil exploration sites in Kaiso.
23 year old Jesca Nyamungu, a resident of Nyakatooke village, says she walks a distance of four kilometers every day to access the only borehole in the area.
Nyamungu says in addition to the long distance trekked she has to stand in the long queues at the water source coupled with scrambles as energetic men and boys sometimes push women away.
This also has a financial implication for those who cannot line up at the borehole as a jerrycan of water is now selling at 1000 shillings, the amount locals say they cannot afford.
Kiiza Aheebwa, a resident of Kyapaloni says they have now resorted to foregoing bathing for some days and eating raw food.
The 40 year old asks government to construct a piped water system and at least one shallow well for each village to save them the long distance and queues.
Fred Kasangaki, the Buseruka Sub-county chairperson blames the problem on the mismanagement of the water sources by the users causing them to break down in a short period.
Kasangaki reveals, however, that he has contacted the district water office and Red Cross to repair the broken boreholes.
Ibrahim Luswata, the district water Engineer, says this financial year there is a plan to sink four more boreholes in Buseruka Sub County as a step towards solving the water problem in the sub county.
Luswata explains that the Buseruka water problem has also been put to the attention of the Ministry of Water to construct a piped water system in the area.
