Uganda7

Uganda Water Crisis **__Uganda__** Uganda is one of the many countries that struggles with having enough safe, and clean water for their population. Uganda is located in east central Africa, and west of Kenya. Uganda is landlocked which means it is surrounded by land. It is slightly smaller than Oregon, a state that is located in the United States. Uganda has fertile soil and many lakes, streams and rivers. The highest point is Margherita Peak on Mount Stanley. The lowest point is Lake Albert.

Uganda has about 240,000 sq. miles of land and water. Out of this 240,000 sq. miles of land about 44,000 sq. miles is water. The remaining 197,000 sq. miles is land. The total land as a percent is 82% which means there is only 18% of the country is water.

__**Geography**__ Uganda has a tropical climate. It has two dry seasons which usually occur from December to February and June to August. Other than the two dry seasons it is normally wet and rainy. Uganda has a total of 55,160 square kilometers of arable land. Arable land is land that can be used for farming needs. The amount of irrigated land in Uganda is 144.2 sq. kilometers. Irrigated land is land that has been watered to grow crops on plantations. __**Water Scarcity**__ Uganda has about 66 cubic killometers total renewable water resources. This means that Uganda has very little renewable water resources. Uganda's total renewable water resource is about 4 times the size of Smethport, PA. The freshwater withdrawl is about .32 cubic kilometers per year. Freshwater withdrawl is how much water is given to each individual. This means each person in their population gets about 12 cubic meters of water per year. Uganda has a population of about 35,918,915 people. Out of their population about 31% is suffering from poverty. About 25.2% of their population has acess to unsanitary water and about 74.8% of their population has sanitary water. However only 35% of Uganda's population has access to sanitation facilities. The remaining 65% does not. __**Diseases**__ Uganda's degree of risk is very high. This means it is very easy to get sick from their water. Major food or waterborne diseases are bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever. The Major water contact disease is schistosomiasis. Bacterial diarrhea is caused by a bacterial infection that Uganda's population can get from drinking contaminated water. Hepatitis A and E is an infection in the liver that is usually associated with poor sanitation. Typhoid fever caused by the bacteria Salmonella and is an irritation in the intestines. **__Causes of Water Scarcity in Uganda__** One cause of the water scarcity in Uganda is agricultural purposes. Uganda's wetlands are being drained to water crops and use on the plantations. Another cause is Uganda's population would go to the bathroom in plastic bag and dispose of them in water sources. This obviously created contaminated water and led to many horrible diseases. Now the Ndeeba Catholic Church is working to improve this health hazard by enforcing pour flush toilets. __**What is being done**__ Different teams have come together to help this big issue. The most popular and useful solution they have come up with is building wells. First they ask for donations from people around the world, specifically in the U.S. Then, with the money they are able to collect they can build wells that help get fresh water out from under the ground. This doesn't supply the whole population with fresh and sanitary water but it helps out their unfortunate situation. They can also build underwater pipes. These pipes can carry the fresh water underground and then have a pipe coming out of the ground that allows locals to fill their buckets up. They have found that demand driven projects are far more sustainable than projects where an outsider decides the project. __**Physical or Economical Water Scarcity?**__ Uganda is strugling from ecomonic water scarcity. They need donations to build the wells which means they don't have enough money to build things on their own. Therefore they have to reach out to neighboring countries and ask for help. It is a major issue because over 700,000 children die every year caused by unsafe toilets and bathrooms. = =