A need for ‘joined up thinking’: Groundwater management in rural Uganda

1. A need for ‘joined up thinking’: Groundwater management in rural Uganda Carolyn Roberts University of Gloucestershire, UK Association of American Geographers AGM, San Francisco, USA, April 2007

2. Location

3. Key influences on water policy and management in Uganda • Economic fragility and high levels of indebtedness • Rapid population growth in rural and urban areas, leading to inability to meet basic needs • Post-colonial political instability and ethnic tensions, leading to infrastructural collapse in the 1970s and 80s • Low levels of literacy (<50%) • 1.4m people displaced by civil insurrection • Weak infrastructure, institutions, technical expertise, investment

4. Agenda 21 summary ‘Water resources must be planned and managed in an integral and holistic way to prevent shortage of water, or pollution of water sources, from impeding development. Satisfaction of basic human needs and preservation of ecosystems must be the priorities; after these, water users should be charged appropriately. By the year 2000 all states should have national action programmes for water management, based on catchment basins or sub-basins, and efficient water-use programmes. These could include integration of water resource with land use planning and other development and conservation activities, demand management through pricing or regulation.’

5. Water-related Millennium Development Goals for Uganda • 100% rural population to have access to safe and adequate water and sanitation (latrines) by 2015 • Access is defined as a ‘safe source’ within 1.5 km • Reductions in water-related diseases such as diarrhoea • Some progress (World Bank, 2002) but probably currently lagging behind targets on both water supplies and sanitation

6. UNESCO Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Assessment, 2000

7. Uganda’s physical environment • 24,000 sq km high altitude (1000m+) equatorial territory, in the Nile Basin • 17% open water with lakes and swamps • Granitic basement • Lateritic Fe/Al soils, clay loams • Monsoonal climate • Tropical forest/savannah mosaic

8. Uganda’s human background • Population c. 25 m • Growth rate 3.1% /a • 50% population under 15 • Mean family size 5.5-6 children • Life expectancy at birth c.M46, F51 yrs • GDP $310 /hd • Inflation 6% • 154th in world ranking of economic indicators

9. Approx. 80% rural population

10. Large villages and small towns

11. Water availability in Uganda • Uganda apparently has a large volume of available water per head • Mean water use in Africa is 47l/hd/day • UNEP estimate 25 African countries, including Uganda, will experience water ‘scarcity’ or ‘stress’ in the next 20-30 years, mainly because of population growth • Climate change will increase uncertainty • Distribution and quality problems also influence ‘scarcity’

12. Ugandan policies on water • 1990 Water and Sanitation Programme began for rural towns (500-50,000 people) • 1992 UNCED (Integrated Water Resource Management) • 1994 Uganda Water Action Plan • 1995 Uganda Water Statute • 1996 Uganda (Draft) Water Policy • 1998 Regulations for the control of water resources, water and sewerage and waste water discharges • Uganda Wetlands Conservation Strategy • 1999-2000 Africa’s Water Vision (U.N.) • 2000 Uganda Rural Water and Sanitation Investment Plan and Strategy • 2001 Nile Basin Strategic Action Programme

13. Current emphases in Ugandan water policy • Rational use of water, in an integrated way • Decentralisation of responsibility for implementation from the Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment’s Water Development Department to District Offices • Full cost recovery with some cross-subsidisation of safe water services for poor people • Full stakeholder involvement (Mobilisation Officers) • NGO/aid agency and private sector involvement • Accountability • Safe storage, treatment and disposal of waste, according to the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle • Technical training at local level • Increasing emphasis on privatisation

14. Key areas for research • Comparison of supply management situation in 2001-6 with the late 1960s • Environmental ‘footprints’ of settlements • Environmental impacts of water management strategies • Economic and social costs and benefits of water supply arrangements • Sustainability criteria for water supplies in developing areas (Loucks and Gladwell, 1999) Field investigation conducted by UoG and NTCK staff and students

15. Gilbert White’s ‘Drawers of Water’, 1972 Drawers of Water, 2004

16. Case study villages Kamuli Iganga Kaliro

17. Alternative supplies of water in rural areas • Household connected to mains supply, pumped from river, reservoir or borehole • Public or private standpipe with tap • Borehole with handpump • Well • Spring or protected spring • River, lake or swamp • Puddle

18. High tech pumped supply from small reservoir: Kamuli • Cost and maintenance issues

19. Metered mains household supply: Kamuli • Take up is very low; most residents continue to use alternative sources • Mean daily use in Kamuli in c. 1968 by tap holders was 86l/hd/day (Iganga 85l/hd/d) • ‘Rural’ use was c 13-16 l/hd/day • Borehole supplies are also preferred by local people on quality grounds

20. Public or private pumped supplies to standpipes, Iganga Diesel-pumped borehole, with taps Colonial system, disused

21. Borehole and hand pumps • Frequently funded from foreign aid programmes

22. Protected springs and wells are universal Protected spring Open well

23. Surface and groundwater quality parameters • pH • Conductivity • Nitrate • Nitrite • Ammonia • Phosphate • Iron • Chloride • E. Coli (partial coverage)

24. Questionnaire with users, undertaken at the source using NTCK student interpreters • Gender • Indirect estimates of relative wealth (e.g. shoes, bicycle, clothes?) • Distance travelled and mode of transport • Household sizes (adults, children) • Frequency and volume of collections per household, per day • Price of water • Views on water quality at source, and any required treatment prior to consumption • Other water sources used, and reasons

25. Payment for interviews

26. Groundwater contamination Kaliro

27. Groundwater contamination, Iganga

28. Water quality findings • Village/town impacts on groundwater quality in Kamuli, Iganga and Kaliro are clear and apparently repeatable, year on year • Simple analytical technology is adequate • Comparison with official data suggests comparable picture for nitrate, phosphate, ammonia, pH, conductivity, iron, chloride • Bacteriological data may not be required • Contamination is the result of lack of sanitation, pit latrine seepage and detergent disposal • Users frequently draw on contaminated sources, in all settings

29. Basic findings on water use • Typical consumption by borehole users in Iganga, Kaliro and Kamuli is c. 20l/hd/day • UK domestic consumption is between 200 and 300 l/hd/day • US domestic consumption is c 400 l/hd/day • Fetching water requires about 5-10% typical calorific intake (White et al)

30. The ‘safe water chain’ • Lack of sanitation and effective drainage impedes progress on sustainable supplies • Implementation is problematic despite the efforts of mobilisation officers

31. The socio economic impact of scarcity is as severe as in the 1960s • For most rural Ugandan women in 2006 the ‘rhythm’ of the working day is still made up of walking, queuing and carrying water

32. Iganga: Diesel-driven pumped borehole supplying standpipes • Water sellers’ prices are approximately twice that of personally carried supplies • Take up by wealthier residents is significant

33. Policy Impact One • Rapid population growth leading to inadequate facilities • Policy suggests that a new borehole/facility is required • Maximum population within 1.5 km sought • Boreholes installed in urban/suburban areas • Local groundwater is contaminated from pit latrines and other waste water • People abandon traditional sources and walk into town to collect water from boreholes • Perception that water quality is good, no perceived need or no fuel for boiling • Increased risk of water-borne diseases

34. Health and social wellbeing impacts

35. What happens next: Policy Impact Two • Water yields are relatively low per borehole • Typical use is only c. 20 l/hd/day • Women and children queue for hours • Borehole area is poorly maintained and leakage, spillage or animal trampling occurs • Stagnant water supports mosquitoes • People are infected with malaria whilst queuing into the evening • Privatised health care providers flourish • Inhabitants perceive higher levels of healthcare in urban areas, promoting rural-urban migration

36. Key findings • Villages and small towns have a significant environmental footprint on groundwater • Water quality may be estimated adequately by using simple determinands such as conductivity, reducing the need to wait for official assessments to become available • Water supply provision must be matched by investment in sanitation • Education is significant, but needs to be based on appropriate scientific information

37. Strategic targets are being overwhelmed by population growth

38. The impact of privatisation? • Lack of technical capacity in local government, plus issues of non-compliance with central policy by aid agencies has promoted privatisation • Some sources are removed altogether • Water costs have risen to approximately 10% of family income in sampled villages

39. Concepts of sustainability ‘Sustainable water resource systems are those designed and managed to fully contribute to the objectives of society, now and in the future, while maintaining their ecological, environmental, and hydrological integrity’ Loucks and Gladwell, 1999

40. Concepts of Sustainability • Engineering • Economics • Environment • Equity

41. Concepts of sustainability • Resilience • Adaptive capacity • Vulnerability

42. Acknowledgements • Staff and students from National Teachers’ College Kaliro, Uganda • Staff and students from University of Gloucestershire • Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment, Kampala, Uganda • Uganda Bureau of Statistics • Busoga Trust • White G.F., Bradley D.J., and White A.U. 1972 Drawers of Water University of Chicago Press