Assessment of Safe Water Supply: A Case of Kiryokya Town in Kalangaalo Sub-County Mityana District

Abstract

This study assessed the safe water supply situation in Kiryokya Town, Kalangaalo sub-county in Mityana District. It arose out of the observation that despite Mityana District Local Government’s efforts aimed at implementing various water projects in several areas in Mityana to increase safe water provision to both rural and urban communities, safe water coverage in Kiryokya Town was still very low.

This was a descriptive research design, based on a case study, using both quantitative and qualitative research approaches. A semi-structured questionnaire and interview guide were used as main data instruments and data was analysed using SPSS and thematic contents analysis.

The findings revealed that safe water access in Kiryokya Town was very low and this was characterized by safe water provision by point water sources namely deep boreholes, hand dug shallow wells and protected springs that are scattered in various peripherals of Kiryokya Town. These point water sources are limited in number and only accessible to communities around them leaving the majority of the population accessing water to unsafe water sources while others buy water from some water vendors in Kiryokya Town. The findings however revealed that there is potential for ground water in Kiryokya that can be utilised as sustainable water source for piped water supply in the entire Kiryokya Town. This was evidenced by the high success rates of drilling deep boreholes and hand dug shallow wells that form majority of water supply sources to households and institutions in Kiryokya Town.

The study concludes that a sustainably managed piped water scheme can effectively and appropriately address the challenges of low safe water coverage in Kiryokya Town by raising current estimated safe water access from 48.89% to 100%. The study recommends on further research in the area of hygiene and sanitation as water supply, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) comprehend each other especially when it comes to implementation.

The study recommends implementation of the piped water scheme designed by the researcher in a phased manner in order to realize 100% safe water coverage in Kiryokya Town. The study further recommends that this design be subjected to a design review by the Design review committee of the MWE.