This tapped water was used by the local people who were asked to pay Ush400 per month for the water systems maintenance. Until of recent in 2005 when water flow started becoming a problem in the areas of the present Mpondwe-lhubiriha town council, karambi and Bwera sub-counties.
All the water AID Danida systems are functional but No water flow. To the present there is no water supply in these areas. All the taps which were formerly constructed have turned out useless to the community due to lack of water supply.
Some of the taps in the mentioned areas which have turned out useless
River Lhubiriha
River Lhubiriha is the boundary of DR Congo and Uganda
People in the community now resorted to fetching water from the ancient River Lhubiriha which had been relied upon before the tapped water.
In the 1990s the river was so clean and was serving a less population of about 100 households.
Currently river serves over 2000 house hold both from Uganda and across Congo where Now the former Virunga National park in Congo is now over 60% occupied by Congo Nationals. Since Congo has no piped water, now all the households from both countries rely on River lhubiriha and another small water flow stream called River Kyabilho flowing through the Uganda boarder town. These community households rely on the two water streams for drinking, commercial and domestic use.
To my surprise, there are no policies governing the River usage from any of the two countries Congo and Uganda. The river is used to wash utensils, clothes, sewage disposal and all sorts of bad sanitary activities as you can witness below.
Congolese nationals miss using the river water
Now, the same people go ahead to fetch the water as others are contaminating it at the same time.
Here people miss-use the water directly as others are fetching from it.
Drinking water
In an interview with some of the locals who were fetching the water, majority of them said they quite often drink the water without boiling because they do not have fire wood or charcoal to waste on boiling water. While a few said they do boil or treat the water before taking.
A maizi marungi (Good water) programme
Recently a round 2009, there came a government aided programme called Amaizi marungi which promised to provide good water. These programmes came through the Town council establishment. This programme seems to have become a hell in the area, the water contractors have never finished laying the pipe line, and have ended up asking for a lot of corruption logistics from whoever wants to be connected to the water system.
Surprisingly, the water points built have ended up becoming decoration in the community and are rarely operational.
Some of the idle Amaizi marungi water points in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha Town council
This research was conducted only in Mpondwe-Customs areas, imagine the experience in other neighboring areas like Rusese, Mundongo and karambi which are far from the river.
I pause a question to all the people responsible for this field in Mpondwe-Lhubiriha town council, Karambi and Bwera sub-counties are these areas safe from cholera, dysentery and other bad water caused diseases?
