Water

Quality in
Uganda
Nicole Celera
 Introduction
Water is life. A necessity for
human survival.

❖ Water affects everything in life

➢ Pivotal for economy, health, agriculture, education
❖ Water seems vast in the planet but
➢ Most water is salt water; not suitable for consumption
➢ Globally only 2% of water is freshwater
■ Freshwater resources: Continentally
● America = 45%
● Asia = 28%
● Europe = 15.5%
● Africa = 9%
340 million Africans lack access to safe, clean water

Over 800,000 children die from water-related diseases

2,000 die daily, 1 child dies about every 20 seconds

Environment
Uganda, Africa
❖ Dry continent
❖ Severe conditions
❖ Long periods of drought
❖ Water depletion caused by high demand from domestic, irrigation, &
industrial sectors

Lake Victoria is the main water resource in Uganda

❖ Shared between Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania

➢ Conflict of ownership = strained relationships
 Environment continued
Low & middle income areas more at risk for safe water insecurity

❖ Slum populations in Uganda

➢ High and growing populations
■ Poor solid waste management
■ Unequipped drainage
■ Poor housing conditions
■ Insufficient drinking water
■ Unsafe foods
■ Inadequate personal and general hygiene
■ Improper excreta and wastewater management
➢ Lack of resources
 Accessibility
❖ Water services are not easily accessible
➢ Lakes, swamps, ponds exposed to bacteria
➢ Standpipes, pumps, boreholes, wells - methods
■ Travel to collection point
● nearly 40% travel more than 30 mins
■ Waiting in line at water stations
■ Physical effort/Laborious
■ Can be dangerous - women and children have been attacked, including robbed and raped
■ Time spent collecting water takes away time from work, education, child care
■ Transporting back to destination
■ Storage of water
Accessibility continued

❖ Maintenance
➢ Pump handles broken

❖ Water bottles
➢ High demand of manufacturing water bottles led to counterfeit

❖ Direct access via in-home piped water from municipal provider

➢ Inadequacies with unreliable systems and conflicts with costs and payments
 Diseases
❖ Water-borne diseases from contamination
➢ Cholera, hookworm, schistosomiasis, trachoma, typhoid fever, & travelers disease
❖ Linked to usage of unsafe water from drinking, food, sanitation, & hygiene
➢ Cholera, typhoid, & diarrheal epidemics = high incidence among children
■ Vulnerable to health problems malaria, malnutrition, & pneumonia
■ Poor locations and communal use of toilets & lack of sanitation
maintenance affects drinking water & personal hygiene leading to
diarrheal disease
■ 88% of deaths are from diarrheal disease
 Possible Solutions
An integration of individuals, communities, government, policies, and regulations to
work together to help with issues with water quality.

Individual & household level

❖ Education about risks of unsafe water

➢ Perception of water quality impact treatment choices
➢ Household chlorination instead of boiling
(chlorine tablet to treat water)
❖ Participation in community programs &
interventions
Possible Solutions continued
Community level

❖ Community intervention & projects

❖ Clean-up exercises
❖ Promotion of handwashing
❖ Promotion of health education
❖ Waste management support
❖ School support
❖ Training community members techniques to inspect water sources
 Possible
Solutions continued

Government level

❖ Implement policies and initiatives that enables efficient use of water

❖ Maintenance, quality inspection, upgrades, and better infrastructures
❖ Improvement on living conditions in Uganda
❖ Safe, clean water more accessible
❖ Usage of groundwater resources
❖ Seek funding & support from stakeholders or more developed countries
 Public Health
❖ Water insecurity has serious implications for the health, livelihoods & well-
being of people around the world
➢ Continuing studies, research, & focusing on prevention to protect population & global health
➢ Awareness of the factors & dynamics influencing water quality
Conclusion
Water is a necessity

Safe, clean quality water is a basic human right

Improving water quality is imperative to

improve human health