Uganda

=The Water Crisis In Uganda=



= Introduction: =

Uganda is in Central West Africa and almost perfectly on the equator so that means that it is very hot there also they need a lot of water. Total land area of Uganda is 236,040 square kilometers. Total water area is 43,938 sq km. Total area is 241,038 sq km.

= Climate/Terrain: =

Uganda's geography is tropical and is generally rainy with two dry seasons. It is mostly plateau with a rim of mountains.

Farm land is 27.94% of the total land area equaling approximately 67,346 square kilometers. Irrigated land is 144.2 square kilometers as of 2010.

= Renewable Water Resources: =

The total renewable water resources for Uganda is 66 cubic kilometers as of 2011. The fresh water withdrawal is 0.32 cu km/yr (41% domestic,16% industrial and 43% agricultural).

= Population: =

Uganda's population is estimated around 35,918,915 people (as of 2014). Uganda's birthrate is 44.17 births/1,000 population. Uganda's death rate is 10.97 deaths /1,000 population.The population below the poverty line is 24.5 %(2009 est.).

= Water Sources: =

Uganda's safe water supplies cover about 65% of the population according to the government of Uganda. The United Nations numbers are slightly higher at 72%. The most common technology options for rural water supply are protected springs, boreholes, protected wells and gravity flow schemes. Those who do not have access to an improved source of water supply have to rely on unsafe sources such as rivers, lakes and unprotected wells.

= Sanitary Facility Access: =

More than half of all residents in Uganda do not have access to improved sanitation, sharing overcrowded pit latrines or practicing open defecation.

= Waterborne/Water Contact Diseases: =

In unplanned urban settlements near Kampala, residents pay up to three times more for safe tap water than residents living in planned urban communities. As a result, residents collect water from alternate contaminated sources. This causes frequent outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery.

= Causes of Water Crisis in Uganda: =

The Water Crisis in Uganda is being caused by the draining of wetlands for agricultural use and also soil erosion. Water is being wasted. Also a s of 2012, 90% of the collected waste water of Kampala is discharged without any treatment.

The water scarcity problem in Uganda is economical. There is water for 72% of the population but there is no money to get water from protected sources for the rest.

= What is being done: = = = = = Investment needs to reach 95% access to water supply in 2015 are estimated at US$100 million per year, only slightly more than the estimated actual investment of $85 million in 2006. About 75% of investments were financed through external assistance in 2000. The groups that are helping make this happen are Joint Water and Sanitation Sector Programme Support, African Development Fund, European Union and The World Bank.

= =

= =