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TitleSelf-help initiatives to improve water supplies in Eastern and Central Uganda, with emphasis on shallow groundwater : a case study of the RWSN Self-...
Publication TypeMiscellaneous
Year of Publication2005
AuthorsCarter, R, Mpalanyi, J, Ssebalu, J
Paginationvii, 48 p. : 5 boxes, 6 tab.
Date Published2005-08-01
PublisherWaterAid
Place PublishedKampala, Uganda
Keywordscommunity management, evaluation, groundwater, rural areas, sdiafr, sdiman, self supply, uganda, water supply
Abstract

A small study into rural water self-supply describes locally initiated improvements to domestic water services, carried out in mid-2005 in central and eastern Uganda. Decentralised authorities (District Water Offices) contract out construction of new water sources for identified communities, expected to contribute financially and in kind, and take responsibility for operation and maintenance.

The main findings of the field work are : 1) the notion self-supply is difficult for many organizations and individuals who are used to conventional approaches of community water supply 2) four main groundwater source types are identified which fit the self-supply concept (very shallow small water holes, valley tanks, utilizing shallow groundwater from a swamp, self-initiated brick lined shallow wells and private boreholes) 3) the initiators of self-supply improvements tend to be influential community members or leaders 4) very few truly private sources are found 5) the investments in self-supply fall into four categories (local labour and materials only, private Ugandan cash, government funds and foreign money) 6) the official position of the authorities, to discourage use of poor water quality sources is a barrier to self-supply.

Both government agencies and NGOs insist in their support to communities, and not to individuals, and disregard the positive steps people can make to improve their sources

Support options to improve self-supply are : a) the use of the scoring framework to identify incremental (low cost) source improvements b) support and subsidy to ‘private’ source owners c) support to private source operators and d) support to private well diggers

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