Northern Uganda water supply services (NUWATER) : consultancy services for the baseline survey of water supply systems and services in Kitgum

Kitgum Pipe Water Supply was installed in the 1960s. During its early years, the system was a small service, supplying only a handful of institutions using a mono pump. Its turnaround came in 1997 when the first comprehensive rehabilitation was carried out under the Northern Uganda Reconstruction Program (NURP). NURP installed four boreholes: KTI, YY Okot, K-Flag and K-New. Currently the system has five boreholes (the fifth, Langalanga was recently installed). However, in spite of significant capital investments into the system, the majority (over 80%) of the population in Kitgum Town Council still use other water sources—such as point source boreholes and the Pager River for their domestic water. About 80 point source boreholes dot the town and at each of the boreholes are long lines of jerrycans. NUWATER will assist Kitgum Town Council to revamp the pipe water supply system, based on an incentive-based management contract recently signed with the new operator. [authors abstract]