The Civil Society has appealed to the Ministry of Water and Environment in Uganda to improve its capacity to provide bulk water supply to areas that are water stressed.

many Ugandans still not accessing safe water

According to a report of the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group, though 66% of rural populations and 86% of the urban populations have access to safe water, districts like Bugiri, Mubende, Manafwa, Mayuge and Yumbe among other have less than 50% access to safe water which leaves them water stressed.

The Group says in its report that the ministry should first equip itself to deal with such a challenge of the extremely low access to safe water, arguing that if the areas are left behind the achievements made in increasing the access to safe water that the government has made in the past will be undermined.

The group says the ministry should improve its capacity to address access to safe water in such areas such that the entire country can uniformly progress in addressing the challenge of access of safe water in the country.

The absence of safe drinking water is responsible for many of the communicable diseases like cholera and hepatises E among others and is thus a big health concern.

By Zakaria Tiberindwa, Ultimate Media