By KT Reporter
Sembabule district leaders have appealed to the government to consider them for stationed excavation equipment, to enable them to address the recurrent problem of water scarcity affecting the area.
Patrick Nkalubo, the Sembabule LCV Chairperson, indicates that the district has long grappled with the problem of acute scarcity of water, which is a critical requirement for both agriculture and domestic use. He says that, given its topography and geographical location within the dry cattle corridor, the district is usually affected during the dry seasons, leading to general crop failure and sometimes animal death.
Nkalubo prefers that the government allocate the district at least a set of excavation equipment for every two constituencies, to enable them to excavate and desilt more water dams that can provide them through the dry seasons.
According to him, the district has very limited access to a piped water supply, which makes it more reliant on swamps and valley dams, which are, however, also not enough.
He says that the district council has now formally petitioned the Minister of Works and Transport, and his counterpart of Water and Environment, to consider allocating them two new excavation equipment to enable them to dig more valley dams that can provide a remedy to the water scarcity.
Steven Akabwayi, the Chairperson for Lwebitakuli sub-county, observes that water scarcity is a serious problem affecting the area and that the local government can hardly address it due to meagre budgets.
“We appreciate the project, but these can only serve a very small fraction of people who are directly affected. We need to have many strategic valley dams for the cattle and supporting irrigation of crops in dry seasons,” he says.
He prefers that the district be recognized as a water-stressed area, which needs to be accorded special attention in terms of budget allocation, such that it can respond to the challenges.
Aisha Ssekindi, the State Minister for Water, acknowledges that the Ministry is already aware of the challenge, and their technical teams are conducting studies towards finding a lasting solution.
According to her, preliminary studies indicate that the Sembabule district has a very deep water table, which is not suitable for the drilling of boreholes and the construction of spring wells.
She says that the government is considering a broader project of pumping water from the available swamps within the districts of the cattle corridor, and accordingly setting up a community water supply network supported by gravitational force and community reservoirs.
Ssekindi says that the next financial year, each of the water-stressed districts in the cattle corridor has been allocated 1.09 billion shillings to support them in expanding their piped water coverage, as they wait for the broader project of setting up community reservoirs-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
