Kampala — Bushenyi district is facing a water crisis due to the prolonged drought.

Schools are the most affected, as students trek long distances in search of water. The district assistant education officer, Sabastian Katungwensi, said some schools had no water harvesting tanks and access to gravity water.

He said if the drought continued, the school term could be ended prematurely.

"The boarding schools have been seriously affected. They are trying to improvise by using their vehicles to carry water," Katungwensi said.

In villages people line up at protected springs to get water.

"The situation is terrible," said a Bushenyi town resident.

The National Water and Sewerage Cooperation area manager, Cyrus Aomu, said: "We have nothing to do because the drought has affected the water table."

He appealed to the public to plant trees and safeguard the wetlands to protect the environment. In Bunyaruguru county, residents threatened to demonstrate against a water project that was shoddily done.

The district vice-chairman, Enid Rubegyemera, said the contractor mismanaged the over sh1.7b project that was supposed to supply residents of Kinchwamba, Ryeru and Katerera sub-counties with safe water.

Henry Arinde, the Kinchwamba sub-county NRM chairperson, said the contractor, Ambitious Construction Company, failed to complete the project but recently wanted to hand it over.

"We cannot accept a project that has failed to meet the people's needs," he said.