Rural safe water supply improves as national coverage slightly declines

The percentage of rural villages with safe water supply increased by
2% from 2019 to 2020 according to the latest report.
See full report below.

INTRODUCTION

Water and Environment are at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socioeconomic development, healthy ecosystems and for human survival itself. It is vital for reducing the global burden of disease and improving the health, welfare and productivity of populations.

Pesident takes a group photo with NWSC staff and the Ministry of water and environment

It is central to the production and preservation of a host of benefits and services for people. Water is also at the heart of adaptation to climate change, serving as the crucial link between the climate system, human society and the environment.

Water is a finite and irreplaceable resource that is fundamental to human well-being. It is only renewable if well managed. Although the stakes are high, let me take this opportunity to present the current trends of performance of the Water and Environment Sector for the FY 2019/20.

The 12th Water and Environment sector Performance Report for FY 2019/20 provides information on investments, targets, achievements, and challenges for the sector during the previous financial years.

As of June 2020, the national safe water coverage in rural areas was estimated at 68% a decline from 69% as of June 2019. This was attributed to low reporting of new water sources constructed by districts (47%) coupled with high population rate. However, the percentage of rural villages with safe water supply increased from 66% in FY 2018/19 to 68%. The population using an improved drinking water source in urban areas reduced from 79% in June 2019 to 70.5% in June 2020. This is due to creation of new cities which engulfed rural areas with low safe water coverage.

It is worth noting that the water and sanitation services managed by the National Water & Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) have now expanded to cover a total of 258 towns. As the ministry strives to meet the objective of promoting development of cost-effective and sustainable water supply and water management for increased production in Uganda.

During the FY 2019/20 the ministry increased national cumulative storage for water for production from 41.124m3 to 42.0m3 with a functionality rate of water facilities at 88%.

Implementation of catchment based integrated water resources management activities is ongoing in the 4 Water Management Zones (WMZs).

Twenty surface water stations and eleven groundwater stations of the Water Resources Monitoring Network were upgraded from manual to telemetric data collection, which forms a major component in the development of an Early Warning Telemetry System since it enables quick dissemination of the information products to the public and researchers.

De-forestation remains the major challenge which has led to decline of forest cover from 24% in 1990 to 10%in 2017. Restoration effort is being hindered by unclear forest boundaries which continue to encourage encroachment of forests and increase the cost of law enforcement and litigation.

The measures put in place by the sector have reversed the trend and currently the forest cover stands at 12.4%. A total of 6,642.939ha of

critical wetlands were restored across the country, Pivotal to our challenges is inadequate funding. It is estimated that UGX 5.10 trillion is required annually and increasing to 10 trillion by 2030 to serve the population by then.

The sector still has a huge funding requirement to meet her set goals amidst the ever growing population and huge service delivery demands Finally, on behalf of the Government of Uganda, let me express our gratitude to the Sector Development Partners, the Civil Society Organisations and the Private sector for the support given to the sector during the FY 2019/20.

The Water and Environment Sector Performance Report (SPR) presents the performance of the sector during the financial year (FY) 2019/20 with respect to investments, targets, achievements, outputs and challenges. It is based on Sector Performance Indicators.

It covers water supplies, sanitation and hygiene, water for production, water resources

management, environment and natural resources, climate change and cross cutting

issues of gender, HIV/AIDS and governance.

Data used for this report is derived from databases in the Ministry of Water and Environment, District Local Governments, Sector semi-autonomous agencies, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Sports, and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).

SECTOR FINANCES

The total financing to the Sector including on-budget and off-budget resources was approximately UGX 1,820.97bn, out of which UGX 1,667.86bn was on-budget having been

appropriated by Parliament for the Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) and all the agencies; National Environment Management Agency (NEMA), National Forestry Authority (NFA), Uganda National Metrological Authority (UNMA) and National Water and Sewerage

Corporation (NWSC). UGX153.11bn was off budget. The donor On-budget allocation was UGX 523.287bn, representing 31.3% of the total on budget funding.

The off-budget financing was provided by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) both in the Water and Environment Sub-sectors.

The internally generated funds approved by Parliament as Appropriation in Aid (AIA) was UGX 578.00bn; representing 34.6% of the Sector budget. In terms of releases, the total amount

released to the Sector was UGX 1,207.58 bn; representing 66.3%. The Government (treasury)

released UGX 451.358bn representing 79.7%, Donors UGX 287.964bn (55.0%), AIA UGX

391.00bn (67.6%) and off-budget UGX 82.55bn (54%).

RURAL WATER SUPPLY

The main technology options used for water supply improvements in rural areas include deep boreholes (44.7%), shallow wells (23.1%), and protected springs (20.8%). Others include tap

stands/kiosks of piped schemes and rainwater harvesting tanks (11.3%).

As of June 2020, the national safe water coverage in rural areas was estimated at 68%. There was a decline from 69% as of June 2019. This was attributed to low reporting of new water sources by districts (47%). The percentage of rural villages with safe water supply increased from 66% in FY 2018/19 to 68%. The functionality for rural water supplies stagnated at 85%.

The functionality for rural water supplies stagnated at 85%. The overall per capita cost for rural water supplies was USD 72.6 which was lower than USD 75 in FY 2018/19. 608 new boreholes were constructed and 1,096 rehabilitated. 57 piped water systems with 587 taps and 90 protected springs were constructed. 116 rainwater harvesting systems (ferro cement tanks, Plastic tanks and Communal) of 10m3 were installed.

The percentage of water points with functional water and sanitation committees increased from 89% in June 2019 to 90% in June 2020.

URBAN WATER SUPPLY

The population using an improved drinking water source in urban areas reduced from

79% in June 2019 to 70.5% in June 2020. Access to safely managed water (available on

premises) remained at 57.11% in urban areas. 3000 villages in large towns and 534 in small

towns were served in FY 2019/20. 67,661 new connections made comprising 5,197 connections made by Umbrella Authorities and 61,246 by NWSC.

Completed construction of 16 small towns water supply systems with 383 Public stand posts

(PSP), 23 institutional connections and 4,032 Yard Tap Connections. These are expected to

serve 534 villages and 310,320 people in small towns.

NWSC geographical coverage increased from 253 towns as at 30th June 2019 to 258 towns as at 30th June 2020, a growth of 2%. Functionality of small towns and rural growth centres piped water supply systems reduced from 94.3% in June 2019 to 81.23%. This decline was as a result of taking over many schemes that were originally not functional at all. In large towns, the average hours of service were 18 hours per day.

Non-Revenue Water (NRW) increased from 30.73% to 33.5% in large towns and from 33%

to 37.78% in small towns and RGCs. The average per capita investment cost for the new water facilities was USD57.95 compared to USD 58 in FY 2018/19.

WATER FOR PRODUCTION

The cumulative WFP storage increased from 41.124 million m3 in FY 2018/19 to 42.0 million

m3.

The Ministry has completed construction of four (4) medium scale Irrigation schemes of Olweny in Lira District, Agoro in Lamwo District, Mubuku I in Kasese District and Doho I in Butaleja District. Constructed Sixteen (16) valley tanks in the Districts of Soroti (1), Butebo (1), Kapelebyong (1), Kumi (1), Bukedea (1), Kaabong (1), Kotido (1), Lyantonde (1), Mbarara (2), Butambala (1), Rukungiri (1), Ntungamo (1), Kyankwanzi(1), Sembabule (1), Bushenyi (1) and expanded one (1) valley tank in Bugiri District by 7,000m3 creating a water storage capacity of 256,000,000 litres Constructed fifty eight (58) valley tanks in the Districts of Kiruhura (12), Mbarara (6), Kazo (1), Ntungamo (1), Gomba (1), Sembabule (3), Rakai (1), Lyantonde (9), Mubende (1), Busia (1), Nakapiripirit (1), Nabilatuk (1), Moroto (3), Kotido (5), Kamuli (1), Katakwi (2), Kapelebyong (1), Ngora (1), Amudat (3), Karenga (1), Amuria

(1), Kumi (1) and Soroti (1) creating a water storage capacity of 645,000,000 litres. Completed construction of one (1) small scale. Irrigation scheme in Nakaseke District.

Functionality of WfP facilities remained at 87.2% and 88% of WFP facilities had functional

management systems compared to 86% in FY 2018/19.

WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

The average compliance to the permits (surface water, groundwater and waste water discharge)

conditions increased to 77.6% from 73% in FY 2018/19. The proportion of water safely treated increased from 28% to 30%.

 

Status of the lakes and rivers was updated and daily updates provided to the Office of the Prime Minister. The Lake Victoria levels have continued to oscillate above the long-term average of

1134.37 metres above mean sea level (11.48 metres above the local datum) since the end

of 2013. Lake Victoria recorded a new highest daily level of 13.49 metres on the afternoon of

19th May 2020.

 

A total of 629 samples were collected to assess the water quality for rural water sources.

Compliance increased to 67% from 64% in FY 2019/20.

 

CROSS CUTTING ISSUES

The percentage of Water Source Committees (WSC) with women holding key positions increased to 86% from 85%.

 

CRITICAL ISSUES FOR THE SECTOR

Inadequate financing to the sector remains a major challenge and affects the fulfilment of

core functions. Capacity gaps in the sector remains a critical issue particularly in newly created local governments, Umbrella Authorities and the ENR subsector.

Inequity in water service coverage is another critical issue affecting the sector. 17 least served

districts with less than 55% coverage require special attention. The majority of these districts

fall in the dry cattle corridor with low surface and ground water potential and require expensive

technologies like bulk piped water supply.

The revised sector performance measurement framework, 2016 remains not disseminated. With limited support from UNICEF, the ministry produced a guide for computation of the WASH indicators but this also needs widespread dissemination across the Water and Sanitation sub-sector. This is partially responsible for the persistent lack of data (including baselines) on a number of sector performance indicators since FY 2016/17 the first year of implementation of the revised framework.

 

Water and Environment Sector Performance Indicators

 

Performance Indicators (n/a = not applicable, ND = No Data)		2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Water Supply
1. Basic water: Percentage of population using an improved drinking water source	Rural	67%	70%	70%	69%	68%
	Urban	71%	71%	77%	79%	70.5%
2. Safely managed water: Percentage of population using safely managed drinking water services located on premises	Rural	n/a	ND	ND	ND	ND
	Urban	n/a	ND	20%	57.2%	57.11%
3. Percentage of villages with a source of safe water supply	Rural	n/a	64%	66%	66%	68%
	Urban	n/a	ND	ND	ND	ND
4. Percentage of towns with pro-poor facilities where people pay less or equal to the house connection tariff in the service area	STs	n/a	ND	38%	31%	31%
	NWSC	n/a	ND	83%	ND	ND

 

5. Functionality: rural: % of water sources functional at time of spot-check	Rural	86%	85%	85%	85%	85%
urban: % piped water service availability	STs	n/a	92%	93%	94.3%	81%
	NWSC	n/a	ND	ND	ND	ND
6a. Management – rural: % of water points with actively functioning Water & Sanitation Committees	Rural	87%	88%	89%	89%	90%
6b. Management – piped schemes: % of piped water schemes with formal contract-based management structure	STs	n/a	ND	ND	100%	100%
7a. % Non-revenue water (piped schemes)	STs	n/a	ND	42%	33%	37.78%
	NWSC	28%	31.3%	30.7%	30.73%	33.5%
7b. Customer satisfaction: NSWC´s customer satisfaction index	NWSC	88%	84%	85%	86%	77%
8. Financial Sustainability: Ratio between total revenue collection and O&M costs	STs	n/a	ND	158%	79%	ND
9. Per Capita Investment Cost: Average cost per beneficiary of new water and sanitation schemes (USD)	Rural	32	32	68	75	72.6
	Urban	65.5	54	58	41	57.95

 

 

10. Drinking water quality: % of water samples taken that comply with national standards (Point water sources / Piped schemes)	Rural	41%	59%	64%	59%	59%
	STs	n/a	ND	89%	93.3%	91.6%
	NWSC	99%	99.6%	99.3%	99.6%	98%
Sanitation and Hygiene
11. Basic sanitation: Percentage of population using an improved sanitation facility not shared with other households	Rural	n/a	ND	ND	16.6%	18%
	Urban	n/a	ND	36.3%	42.8%	44.8%
12. Safely managed sanitation: Percentage of population using safely managed sanitation services	Rural	n/a	ND	ND	7.1%	7%
	Urban	n/a	ND	26%	37.4%	38.9%.
13. Open defecation: Percentage of population practicing open defecation	Rural	n/a	ND	8%	22.9%	22%
	Urban	n/a	ND	12.6%	12.1%	12.1%
14. Hand washing: Percentage of population with hand washing facilities with soap and water at home	Rural	36%	37%	36.5%	36%	38%
	Urban	39.1%	40%	39.6%	40%	61.1%
Schools: Percentage of pupils enrolled in schools with basic hand washing facilities	Schools	34%	35%	40%	42%	58%
Water for Production
15. Cumulative Water for Production Storage Capacity (million m³)		37.2	38.9	39.3	41.124	42.025
16a. Irrigation: Proportion of irrigation potential utilized		n/a	ND	ND	ND	ND
17a. Irrigation: Proportion of actual water abstraction to total irrigation water requirement		n/a	ND	ND	ND	ND
Performance Indicators (n/a = not applicable, ND = No Data)		2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
18. WfP Functionality: % of water for production facilities that are functional at time of spot-check		84%	85%	86.7%	87.2%	87.8%
19. WfP Management: % of water for production facilities with actively functioning Water User Committees		81%	83%	84%	86%	88%
Water Resources Management
20. Compliance with permit conditions: % of permit holders complying with permit conditions		72%	71%	72%	73%	77.6%
21. Proportion of wastewater safely treated		n/a	ND	ND	28%	30%
22. Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient water quality		n/a	ND	ND	ND	ND
23. Water use efficiency: Gross Value Added by irrigated agriculture per vol. of water used [USD/m3]		n/a	ND	ND	ND	ND
24. Level of water stress: Water withdrawal as a proportion of available water resources		n/a	ND	ND	ND	ND
32. % of districts with functioning early warning systems		n/a	28%	29%	48%	53%

Sector Finance

Overview

 Funding to the sector under the FY 2019/20 is classified into two categories based on source of funding;

1. On budget Funding (funds that are released from National treasury- MoFPED on a quarterly basis) which are appropriated by Parliament of Uganda to all MDAs including Appropriation in Aid (internally generated funds by MDAs that are spent at source).

 

1. Off-budget funding composed funds to the sector that do not go through the National

Treasury. These are usually transferred to the sector direct from the funders or spent by

Development Partners themselves on behalf of the sector based on agreed workplan, activities and outputs.

The section provides a highlight of funding to the sector in relation to the approved budget for the year in question, releases of the approved funds in comparison to utilisation. The section further gives an overview of the various funding sources and their category of expenditures in the sector during the financial year 2019/20.

Funds to the sector are obtained from the Government appropriation through treasury releases to the Ministry, parastatals, agencies and local governments from GoU own collections, Government guaranteed Loans, Grants from development Partners and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), and the private sector through direct funding and direct implementation in the beneficiary communities.

 

	Funding Source	Approved Budget (UGX Bn)	Released (UGX Bn)	% of budget Released
On budget	GoU	566.577	451.358	79.7%
	Donor	523.287	287.964	55.0%
	AIA	578.00	391.00	67.6%
Off- Budget	Off- Budget	153.11	77.25	50.5%
Total		1,820.97	1,207.58	66.3%

The sector budget for the FY 2019/20 was UUGX 1,820.97bn (including off-budget) which was less than UGX 1,939.12 in FY 2018/19. The funding sources to the sector include, off-budget funding to the Water and environment activities by CSOs, under the umbrella of UWASNET (for water and sanitations CSO’s) and Environmental Alert (for Environment and Natural Resource CSOs),and Appropriation in Aid (funds raised by e NWSC ) and Direct funding by other agencies like UNDP, Denmark and UNICEF.

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

 During the FY 2019/20, GoU prepared and submitted the National Development Plan 2020-25 where the water and Environment subsector made contributions to the development plan under chapter 9; Natural Resources, Environment, climate change, land and water management. The sector presented 79 projects to be implemented during the NDP III period at an estimated cost of UGX 13.9trillion.

 

The sector has an annual financial requirement of approximately UGX 5.10 trillion which will gradually increase to 10 trillion by 2030 if it is to realise its set targets in the sector strategic investment plan (2017) that will take the country to a middle-income status.

The figure 2-2 below shows funding requirement to meet the sector’s set goals and the available funding over the 8-year period. Despite the increased allocations to the sector in the medium term, the gaps are increasing due to inadequacies in release of the approved budgets.

 

Sector Funding Gap

 

6000     4000       2000           0	3380              3,256              3,056
	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2018/19	2019/20
Available Budget	439.3	470.8	511.2	749.60	1,740	1,864	2,144
Sector Requirements	676.9	772.3	676.47	811.423	5,120	5,120	5,200
Funding Gap	237.6	301.5	165.27	61.823	3380	3,256	3,056

The funding gap is measured against the actual releases to the sector and the projections set in

the strategic sector investment plan 2017-2023. Funding needs to the sector were projected based on the sector targets like infrastructure investment and maintenance requirements, environment and natural resources restoration and management, climate change and weather mapped to the financing trends by the different source of funding to the sector over years by both Government of Uganda and other sector development partners and the private sector. It is no doubt that the sector still requires heavy funding and efficient utilisation of the available resources if it is to deliver on its targets set in NDP III, Vison 2040 and SDGs as well as the NRM Manifesto commitments.

 

CSO Financing per subsector (UGX bn)

 

Sub Sector	Agency	Budget	Release	Spent	%Release
Water supply subsector	UWASNET	145.652	75.1	75.1	48%
Environment and Natural Resources	CSOs	7.45	7.45	7.45	100%
Total		153.102	82.55	82.55	54%

 

Sub-sector Agency Budget Release Spent % Release

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0

2011/12     2012/13   2013/14   2014/15     2015/16   2016/17 2017/18   2018/19 2019/20

NGOs/CSOs have continued to make significant investments in water supply infrastructure as

well as Natural resource contributions over years with a total investment of UGX 77.2bn which however, reduced from UGX 105.45bn in the FY 2018/2019. The reasons for reduction were mainly due to the effect of COVID-19 pandemic which affected many outputs and financial sources of the funders. Funds have been invested in financing water supply infrastructure, like drilling of bore holes, piped water supply, sanitation, community management and WASH activities, water for production investment in integrated water resource management, forestry services, wetland management and weather, climatic change activities and other refugee resettlement activities.

Rural Water Supply

Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Department is the lead department that ensures availability and access to safe and clean water plus hygienic sanitation in rural areas. The Department is tasked to provide water and sanitation infrastructure in all rural communities and is charged with the responsibility of increasing the provision, functionality and effective utilization of existing water facilities. Table 1 shows the categories of existing safe water supply technology as of June 2020.

Furthermore, the Department provides overall technical oversight for the planning, implementation supervision and capacity development and other support services to Local Governments, Private Operators and other service providers for the delivery of rural water and sanitation services across the country.

Categories of safe water supply technology as of June 2020

Source of Water            Number                     No. of persons served             %
Deep Bore hole	41,889	12,566,700	44.7%
Shallow Well	21,616	6,484,800	23.1%
Protected Spring	29,214	5,842,800	20.8%
Tap Stands	20,468	3,070,200	10.9%
Rain Water Harvest Tanks	20,320	121,920	0.4%
	133,507	28,086,420	100.0%

Boreholes remain as the most predominant water supply technology in our rural communities

registering an increase from 44.3% in FY 2018/19 to 44.7% in FY 2019/20. The total number of facilities increased from 132,105 in FY 2018/19 to 133,507 in FY 2019/20. Therefore, there was increase by 1,402 from the previous FY and boreholes accounted for 45% of the new facilities constructed.

Programs and projects for Rural Water Supply and sanitation

The major programs, projects and initiatives under Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Department are;

District Water and Sanitation Development Conditional Grants (DWSDCG).

These programmes are implemented through district local governments based on work plans

and budgets approved by MWE. The DWSDCG finances construction of water supply and

sanitation facilities, community sensitization and mobilization in rural areas. The Six Rural Water and Sanitation Regional Centres (RWSRCs) of MWE provide capacity building, monitoring and technical back-up support to local governments in the implementation of the program. Details of the grant allocation 2019/2020 per district are shown in Annex.

Achievements under the District Water and Sanitation Development Conditional Grant for FY 2019/20 District Local Governments planned to implement a total of 2,395 water sources (including 1,153 rehabilitated water sources) but achieved a total of 2,029 (84.7%) water sources.

A total of 289,237 persons were served with newly constructed safe water sources. Table 2 below shows the targets and achievements under the DWSDCG.

Targets and achievements under the DWSDCG for 2018/ 2019

Technology	Planned2	Achievement	% Achieved	No. of persons served
Boreholes	840	608	72.4%	182,400
Protected Springs	109	90	82.6%	18,000
Design of PWS	58	45	77.6%
Piped Water Supply Schemes/ Gfs	92	57 (587 taps)	61.1%	88,050
Rehabilitation	1,153	1,096	94.7%
Rainwater Harvesting Tanks 10m3	113	116	100.9%	787
Valley Tanks	23	15	65.2%
Dams	3	1	33.3%
Grand Total	2,395	2,029	84.7%	289,237

 

Although there was 100% release of the District Water and Sanitation Conditional Grant (DWSCG)

2 Only 108 out of the 134 District Local Government have submitted their reports to Ministry of Water and Environment. Kampala District is excluded as it falls under the Urban area and does not belong in our scope of mandate as a Department

to the District Local Governments (DLGs) by the 3rd Quarter (March 2020), their physical

performance was 83% as compared to 91% in FY 2018/19 especially for water supply hardware facilities excluding of design of Piped Water System.

There was a decrease in the number of people served from 362,482 in FY 18/19 to 289,237 in FY 2019/20 mainly due to 26 DLGs (Adjumani, Gulu, Kitgum, Kole, Kwania, Madi-Okollo, Obongi, Amuria, Kalaki, Karenga, Kotido, Nakapiripirit, Napak, Ngora, Serere, Buyende, Kayunga, Kween, Manafwa, Kiryandongo, Mukono, Buliisa, Kitagwenda, Lyantonde, Rukiga, Rwampara and Sheema) that did not submit their annual reports translating to UGX 7.2bn (18%) of unaccounted for funds in FY 19/20.

The decrease in the number of people served was exacerbated by the creation of new 4 districts namely Madi Okollo, Kalaki, Karenga and Kitagwenda; and the outbreak of COVID-19 that has affected the implementation of planned