By John Fisher Sekabira
Urban development projections show that most cities especially in Africa are expanding faster than water service capacity.
Most of the fast-growing cities are struggling to keep up with the demand for water for both domestic and commercial needs.
Kampala was in similar situation a few decades ago. However, this situation has greatly improved despite the isolated challenges of water shortage in the outskirts of the city.
Last week, the media reported of a water crisis hitting Wakiso District but the reality is that the challenge was far from a crisis but a temporary disruption that National Water and Sewerage Corporation is making all efforts to resolve as soon as possible.
Improving urban water resilience for today’s complex and growing cities requires going beyond traditional solutions. It needs a collaborative approach with all key stakeholders, including the customers who are avery important segment of the water services supply chain.
I would like to appreciate and give credit to The Government of Uganda for prioritising investments in improving water services within Kampala and other NWSC operational areas.
In July 2021, NWSC commissioned the Katosi water supply system which has an ultimate design production capacity of 240million liters of water per day but currently produces 160million liters of water per day as per the demand.
With Gaba able to produce 240 million litres of water per day, NWSC now has the capacity to produce 400 million litres per day against the projected water demand of Kampala of about 300million litres per day. This implies that NWSC has more than enough production capacity to meet the water demand for Kampala but the current challenge which the corporation is working on is evacuating this water to reach the water stressed sections of the network especially in parts of wakiso.
Already, areas like Naguru, Ntinda, Kisaasi l, Kiwatule, Naalya, Namugongo, Sonde, Mukono and the surrounding areas that were previously water stressed zones are benefiting from the new system and Plans are underway to add Wakiso, Matugga-Bombo road, Gayaza road, areas along Nansana-Hoima road, Kyengera- old Masaka road among other areas to this list.
Government through NWSC is at very advanced stages of engaging a contractor for rehabilitation, restructuring and extension of the water infrastructure to improve water supply reliability in the water stressed areas of Kampala Metropolitan. (i.e Kampala, Mukono and Wakiso)
The new infrastructure when completed will evacuate water from the new Katosi system and associated reservoirs in Nsumba,Sonde,Namugongo-Naguru water reservoirs and distribute it to customers in the water stressed areas.
NWSC has put efficiency and innovations at the centre of improving water services. This is reflected in the corporation’s effort to automate most of our services to ensure efficiency in service delivery and a have a satisfied customer.
The writer is the Head Marketing and Digital Communications, NWSC