By Leonard Kamugisha Akida
NATIONAL
The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) is undertaking major expansion of water and sanitation infrastructure across Uganda to meet the growing demand caused by rapid population growth and urbanisation.
NWSC managing director Eng. Dr Silver Mugisha said the corporation had expanded its service footprint from 23 towns a decade ago to about 290 towns, with the population served increasing from 4.5 million to about 22 million people.
Mugisha made the remarks during a media roundtable held on Friday, August 14, 2026, at the NWSC International Resource Centre in Kampala.
He said customer connections had increased from about 300,000 to more than one million over the past decade, while the corporation’s water network had expanded from about 6,000km to more than 25,000km.
The corporation’s total assets under management have also risen from about sh580b to an estimated sh5 trillion.
“Our financial performance is also significant. For instance, the annual operating surplus grew from sh40b before depreciation to sh197b, subject to verification by external audit,” Mugisha said.
He attributed the growth to efforts to extend safe water services to previously underserved urban and peri-urban communities.
However, NWSC acknowledged that rapid urbanisation and industrial growth continue to put pressure on existing infrastructure, resulting in water supply challenges in some areas.
Eng. Mahmoud Lutaaya, the corporation’s manager for Kampala, said the rapid growth of the population, particularly in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, had outpaced infrastructure development.
“Service disruptions are primarily driven by skyrocketing urban population and rapid industrial growth, outstripping the immediate capacity of existing distribution networks,” Lutaaya said.
He said Kampala’s water production capacity had increased substantially, particularly following the commissioning of the Katosi Water Treatment Plant in 2021.
Katosi currently produces about 160,000 cubic metres of water per day, while the combined production capacity of the Katosi and Gaba plants stands at about 390,000 cubic metres per day.
“Service provision is always a moving target. We have to keep following where people are developing, and that is what makes service delivery challenging,” Lutaaya said.
The Kampala metropolitan service area now serves about five million people across Kampala City and parts of Wakiso and Mukono districts.
Lutaaya said customer connections in the area had increased from about 75,000 in 2005 to nearly 500,000.
He added that water production capacity had risen from approximately 117,000 cubic metres per day in 2005 to more than 300,000 cubic metres per day.
Sewerage challenge
Despite the expansion in water supply, Lutaaya said sewerage infrastructure had not grown at the same pace.
He said Kampala has four major wastewater treatment facilities — Lubigi, Nakivubo, Kinawataka and Bugolobi — in addition to smaller treatment facilities and wastewater ponds.
The Nakivubo Wastewater Treatment Plant is the largest, with a treatment capacity of nearly 45,000 cubic metres per day.
The plant also generates electricity from wastewater, with about 80% of its power requirements generated from the waste it treats.
At Lubigi, NWSC treats nearly 4,500 cubic metres of wastewater daily and recovers products such as sludge and manure that can be used as fertiliser.
Lutaaya, however, said a significant proportion of Kampala’s population still relies on on-site sanitation systems.
More water projects
NWSC Deputy Managing Director for Technical Services Eng. Johnson Amayo said the corporation was implementing major water projects across the country using external financing and internally generated resources.
He said NWSC planned to add about 80 million litres of water per day to the Gaba system, bringing the overall production capacity closer to 500 million litres per day.
Other expansion projects are being implemented in Gulu, Mbarara, Kabale, Soroti, Lira, Masaka, Hoima and other towns.
Amayo said the projects were aimed at closing existing water supply gaps and ensuring that infrastructure keeps pace with population and economic growth.
Digitalisation cuts costs
Mugisha also highlighted digitalisation and in-house capacity as key drivers of NWSC’s efficiency.
He said the corporation had adopted an internal cost-efficiency strategy involving force-account contracting, in-house engineering, technology development, digital procurement, electronic payments and digital human-resource systems.
“NWSC has institutionalised the widespread adoption of digitalisation and advanced technology to streamline everyday administration and management workflows. This transition has permanently lowered paperwork, minimised bureaucratic delays and enhanced corporation oversight,” he said.
Mugisha said NWSC had developed several digital systems internally, including an e-payment and billing system, e-procurement and financial accounting systems, an electronic human resource management system and a water quality management system.
He said developing and maintaining the systems internally had helped the corporation avoid the costs associated with hiring external technology vendors.
“NWSC utilises its internal IT design capacities,” Mugisha said, adding that in-house development removed the premium costs normally charged by third-party technology providers.
He said the corporation’s in-house engineering team had also helped reduce expenditure on external engineering consultancies, allowing resources to be redirected to service expansion projects.
Mugisha pledged transparency and accountability but warned against what he described as negative social media campaigns targeting the corporation and its staff.
“NWSC strongly supports the fight against corruption, but emphasises that advocacy must be driven by genuine public interest rather than localised political manipulation or social media character assassination,” he said.
He urged the public and media to base criticism of the corporation on evidence, saying unfounded attacks could demoralise staff working under difficult conditions to maintain water services.
“The corporation welcomes objective and fact-based feedback, but condemns coordinated bad-faith rants that seek to demoralise public servants dedicating their lives to national development,” Mugisha said.
