Joseph Mugisa
10 July 2009
Kyenjojo — Residents of Kyenjojo Town Council have spent over two weeks without water, Daily Monitor has learnt. The residents, whom Daily Monitor spoke to yesterday, said they had resorted to using pond and swamp water and only a few lucky ones draw water from boreholes.
"If the problem of water is not solved soon, very many people, more especially children, are going to suffer from water-borne diseases," said Mr David Mujuni, a resident of the town. He said the problem started after the main water pipe was broken by workers on a new fuel station in town on the Fort Portal-Kagadi road two weeks ago.
The Town Council Clerk, Mr Godfrey Kateeba, confirmed that works on the fuel station caused loss of water.
Mr Kateeba said the council had given the owner of the fuel station, Mr Steven Tinka, only two days to report to council offices or face arrest. "It is true the people of this town council have spent over two weeks without water after the main pipe was broken by workers of Mr Tinka Steven," he said on Wednesday.
The council chairman, Mr Musa Twaha, said they are to meet all stakeholders to discuss the possible ways of reconnecting the water. He said he was worried that the town was headed for the outbreak of water-borne diseases since most people are now using unclean water from ponds and swamps. "The water crisis is a big and serious one which we are trying to address as soon as possible," Mr Twaha said.
Ms Jocelyn Karamagi, also a resident in town told journalists that a 20-litre jerrycan of water has shot from Shs100 to Shs700, a cost many of the residents can't meet. She said the town residents are finding it difficult to get water for washing their clothes since pond water is dirty and too little because of the dry season. She added that people are moving over two kilometres in search of clean water in the neighbourhood. Mr Tinka could not be reached for comment because all his phones were off by press time.
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