NWSC Mbarara struggling to supply enough water

The National Water & Sewerage Corporation-NWSC is struggling to collect enough water for supply,due to pollution of River Rwizi. The most affected areas are in Mbarara City where over 210,000 people are served by NWSC. Water from River Rwizi is also served to different districts outside Mbarara.

River Rwizi catchment is about 8,200 square kilometres,covering 12 districts in western Uganda. It serves an estimated 2.5 million people,representing 4.5% of Uganda’s population. The deteriorating state of River Rwizi has been attributed to lack of resources to support restoration initiatives, corruption, poor mindset and other factors that have led to setting up of illegal structures and other polluting activities in the buffer zone.

Meanwhile,the entire cattle corridor and other parts of Uganda have been hit by drought and other climate variation effects leaving farmers decrying water & pasture scarcity,and other challenges.

This has prompted experts to call upon the government and relevant stakeholders to jointly conserve the environment besides putting mechanisms to mitigate hunger.