Over 1m people to get piped water in three cities - NWSC

Speaking in a boardroom meeting yesterday, Eng Silver Mugisha said the existing water supply in the three cities is currently producing less than 70 percent which is attributed to hydraulic bottle necks, old electromechanical equipment and deficiencies in plant design.

“The president secured a grant financing of shs4.6billion from Agence Francasie de Development (ADF) and approved the idea of expanding water supply for the three cities,” he said.

He added: “The funds will be used for consultancy services to undertake the feasibility study for the development of water and sanitation infrastructure in the new cities.”

The consultancy will cover a period of 13 months from February and 2024 to 2025.

Statistics from UBOS by 2021 indicate that National Water and Sewerage Corporation has covered a network of 20,000kilometre and  at least 15 million people have access to piped water through 700,000 connections in the 258 towns its operating.

Eng Mugisha said in the three cities the number of activities have increased and they demand for more piped water to crater for the population and activities, noting that the feasibility studies will provide a design and actual number of the people in the three cities.

According to National Water, the raw water source in Fort Portal is River Mpanga which is degraded due to inappropriate land use practices and Hoima mainly depends on ground water which is unreliable and insufficient to satisfy the ever increasing water demand.

Under Corporate Plan 2021/24; National Water and Sewerage Corporation is seeking to grow its asset base from shs3.8trillion to shs6 trillion by 2026, boosted by growth in its customer base from 800,000 to more than 1.2m connections, reduction in non-revenue water from 37 percent to 33percent and increase in the customer satisfaction index from 86 percent to 90 percent