By Our Reporter,
KASESE
Basongora communities in Kasese District have appealed to the government to put in place infrastructure to enable them access clean and safe water for both domestic and farm use.
They say that since they were evicted from their original areas in the National Park and resettled on government land, the authorities did not provide them with safe water sources. They claim that lack of safe water has led to their suffering from water related diseases among them typhoid and dysentery.
Leaders and the local cattle keepers in the Basongora communities claim that, although Kasese District is endowed with so many water sources, the problem is that it is not a priority for authorities to establish water treatment plants and piped water supply.
The Chairperson of Busunga Parish in Lake Katwe Sub County, Busongora County South Constituency, Steven Asaba said that they get water from River Nyamugasani but during the rainy season it floods making it difficult for people to get water.
He said that they have to trek 3KM to 15Km depending on one’s village, to access water for both domestic and farm use which affects other activities.
“This problem affects us and our animals and yet the water from River Nyamugasani is very dirty because it is shared by people who bath and wash from it, as well as animals drink from it. Other people even defecate in the river but we drink and use it because we have no option. We sometimes go to Kisinga Sub County where there is piped water and you must have transport means like motorcycle, bicycle and or a truck since it is very far and whoever cannot manage has to suffer,” Asaba said.
According to Asaba, when River Nyamugasani floods, the water becomes smelly and the smell fills surrounding villages and that the water is too dirty for one to use.
Another resident, Yusuf Kahigo a teacher at Busunga Primary School said that people in his family have to trek 4Km to access the unclean water at River Nyamugasani.
“At school, we always have cases of typhoid among learners because they take that dirty water yet you have to put in money to get it and keep boiling to better it so we really have a big problem with the source of water,” he added.
According to Kahigo, the problem of water is affecting the general performance of people in their lives because they spend hours fetching water which affects their daily operations.
Ndahura II Kashagama, the traditional leader of the Basongora asked the government to ensure that the Basongora access safe and clean water to address one of the major challenges that people face.
He suggests that those in authority can set up treatment plants along the river and then pump water to the communities.
“Boreholes are not an answer for water management in this area,” says the leader, identifying the rivers; Mubuk, Sewe, Rwimi, Muhokya, Kahokya, Nyamagasani as substantive for the area not to have water shortage.
While meeting environment journalists from Water and Environment Media Network (WEMNET-Uganda) at his residence in Kasese, Kashagama said that lack of access to safe clean water has disturbed his people in terms of hygiene and health due to the numerous diseases associated with unclean water.
“The children who are born now in and around Nyakatonzi (Busongora County) have brown teeth because the chemicals from the boreholes cause mineral imbalance in the body caused by fluoride and other metals contaminants. The bones turn very brutal and brown, that means if someone has that syndrome and gets an injury that may be a fracture, they will not recover, they will become lame or it will take them a long time to fix that problem. The only way to fix it now is to get them piped water or filters for those boreholes they are using.”
The Basongora said that during dry spells, they lose more than 500 heads of cattle due to lack of water because the only source of water, that is River Kanyampara is shared with cultivators in the upstream who use the same source to irrigate their crops leading to disagreements and conflicts between the cattle keeping Basongora in Nyakatonzi Sub County and the Bakonzo who are crop farmers.
They also blamed the lack of access to safe and clean water to poor representation at the district local government.
