Beside the River Nile

On Wednesday 10 August my field visits to me deep into the West Nile region and the banks of the River Nile itself.  The proximity of the Nile to the communities in this remote part of Uganda provides an additional income source to supplement their income from subsistence farming through fishing.

 

The Nile also serves as a water source, though not a clean one. 

The geology means that boreholes need to be drilled to between 150m and 200m before reaching the water table.  The drilling of the borehole itself is expensive and the depth means that simple hand pumps are insufficient to bring the water to the surface and so a mechanical or solar pump is required - all adding to the cost (both in construction and maintenance).

For these reasons, there are few working boreholes in the region. Apart from the Nile, the only other water source is through rainwater catchment but this in itself presents challenges - the rainfall is often unpredictable, most of the buildings have papayas thatched roofs and so do not offer an opportunity to collect run off and the cost of installing suitable catchment tanks is beyond the means of families.  In reality rainwater catchment is only possible from public buildings with corrugated iron roofs.

The lack of clean(ish) drinking water means that the incidence of water borne disease is much higher in this part of the Diocese of Nebbi than around Nebbi itself.  Sadly the income levels and access to any sort of medical care is much lower in this area.