More than 150, 000 residents in Alebtong District have limited access to clean water.
According to records from the district water department, the water source functionality rate stands at 70% against the national which is at 84%. Community members drink water from unprotected wells shared by animals while some of the wells also dry up.
Brenda Angom, an Environmental Health Officer working with the Ministry of Water and Environment based at Lira explained that the Ministry is aware of the current water crisis in Alebtong and is working towards ensuring that every village has a clean source of water.
In 2022, the Government under the Local Economic Growth Support (LEGS) project launched the construction of a 1.2 billion shillings gravity flow water project in Abako sub-county but, the project works is about 80% complete.
However, Alfred Okite, the District’s Assistant Water Officer believes that upon completion, the project will improve the district’s water coverage by almost 10 percent.
“This water will help us to bridge the gap and our water coverage will raise up from 70 up to around 78% and all the three villages surrounding the project will benefit from the water system including children going to school.”
David Ojom, the LCIII chairperson of Amugu, a Sub-county with a population of over 24,000 people spread over 39 villages said there is a need for more boreholes in the area because some villages do not have any. He added that inadequate water sources cause congestion at the few available water sources including swamps.
Goretty Ebong a resident of Apalayac village in Abako sub-county said that some residents have no option but to fetch dirty water from water sources shared by animals while others move long distances in search of water.
Alex Obote from Palalyac village said family heads are struggling to treat their sick family members as a result of consuming contaminated water from unprotected water sources.
URN.