Water

When I studies O Level Literature, one of the set texts was the Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  I don't remember much of the poem but the following lines have come to mind many times since being in Nebbi,
 

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

How many times during the day do we turn on a tap?  Do we actually know how many taps there are in our homes (make sure you could the connection to the washing machine and dishwasher)?  For most of those reading my blog, easy access to running water is something we rarely give a second thought.  However, across the world over 663 million people do not have access to clean water and for many other their water supply is at risk from equipment failure or natural or manmade disasters.  We only have to think of the plight of the people of Haiti following Typhoon Matthew and the people of Syria.
 
The sixth goal in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals is to ensure access to water and sanitation for all.  So how is Nebbi doing to achieve this goal?
 
In the Nebbi District of the Northern Region of Uganda some 81% of its population of just over 600,000 has access to safe water.  The access rates vary from 25 % in Pakwach to 95 % in Atyak, Kango, Nyapea, Paidha and Kucwiny Sub-Counties and the towns of Paidha and Nebbi. The functionality rate (i.e. the percentage of clean water supply points) in urban and rural areas is 83 % and 81 % respectively.

Nebbi District has some 2,300 domestic water points (borehole, shallow well, protected spring, rainwater tank and public tap) of which 120 have been non-functional for over 5 years and are considered abandoned. The main water supply technologies are the protected spring and deep borehole technologies.


Rainwater collection and storage tank



Fitting a hand pump to a shallow well

Protected spring

Collecting water from the village well

Nebbi District has two surface water based pumped piped water supply systems, four groundwater based pumped piped water supply systems and eight ground flow schemes serving approximately 10% of the population having access to safe water while 90% is served by point water sources.
 
In thinking about these statistics, it is important to remember that access to a borehole, shallow well, protected spring or public tap, does not mean access to clean water within a home.  The vast majority of people in the Nebbi area (alongside many billions across the globe) have to walk to the well, borehole or tap with jerry cans to collect water and then carry it back home.  The distances to a clean water source can be significant and this is a duty that invariably falls on the women and children.  Given the challenge of this task, it is not surprising that if the journey to the clean water source takes them passed a river or other water course, the temptation to fill the jerry can from this source is overwhelming.  It may save walking 5 or more kilometres.


Collecting water from the River Nile



Convenient but unclean

The rainfall levels in this area of Uganda are good and so the water table remains fairly stable which in turn means shallow wells (generally up to 15m below ground) and deep boreholes can be used throughout the year as long as the pump is working.  Simple hand pumps work well for shallow wells but mechanical or solar pumps are needed to extract water from depths of 20m or more.  Rainwater tanks are replenished regularly during the regions two wet seasons and these two periods of rain mean that the larger tanks will provide water for most of the year.  

The risk factors, outside of extreme eternal events, which can impact of the availability of clean water are many and the consequences on drinking water from unclean water sources are life threatening.  Cholera remains a common disease in this area and the Ministry of Health does not keep statistics relating to the incidence vomiting and diarrhoea from drinking dirty water.
 
So next time you turn the tap on or switch the washing machine or dishwater on give a thought to the millions across the world who don’t have the luxury of such convenient access to the necessity of life.