The MD of National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), Dr. Eng Silver Mugisha visited the affected people after an inlet pipe to the Sonde reservoir was dislodged as a result of a pressure surge that forced one of the joints to open, on Sunday, the 24th October 2021, flooding a number of compounds and damaging the road.
During his visit, Dr. Eng. Mugisha reassured customers that all is being done to restore water supply to customers served by the Sonde reservoir and more is being done to compensate those affected by the incident. He apologized to customers affected by the ongoing works and those inconvenienced by the burst.
“We are working with the contractor to restore water supply in the shortest time possible and compensate those inconvenienced by the pipe burst.” he assured.
Notably, the new Sonde water reservoir, part of the Katosi water project will serve over 30 communities in the Kampala Water Metropolitan water service area after rehabilitation works have been completed.
According to Dr. Eng. Mugisha, the failure is not as a result of shady work or poor workmanship. Defects occur during the Defects Liability Period and engineers fix them. The project is still under test and the incident has given NWSC engineers an opportunity to build capacity to handle emergencies on the new system as the contractor prepares to exit.
Giving assurance to residents, Dr. Eng. Mugisha added that the line will be anchored among other measures being implemented to avoid any reoccurrence.
“We have installed water reservoirs on a number of hills for decades and safety of the installations and the surrounding areas is always our number one priority.”
Plans are underway to gravitate water from the 15 million litre capacity Sonde reservoir to a new 15million capacity water reservoir on Kanyanya Hill and subsequently serve Nabweru, Nansana, Wakiso, Kakiri, Bombo road, Matugga, Gayaza road, Kalagi, Mukono, Buikwe district, Namagunga among many other communities.
The Director Engineering services Eng Alex Gisagara said that the utility has built capacity over the years to manage such emergencies and revealed plans to connect the Sonde reservoir to a new 15million litres capacity water reservoir on top of Kanyanya Hill and subsequently add more water to the grid, serving more people than it originally would have.
He shared that the reservoir at Sonde was built with strong concrete to last over 80 years.
“Since 1930 and the colonial times, NWSC has managed water water infrastructure. The wealth of expertise attained over time is sufficient to address any emerging system failures.” he said
NWSC is working around the clock to reconstruct, stabilise, and anchor the line to the reservoir inlet with the aim of restoring water supply this week and keep her promise of “Water for All” to her customers.
Wriitten By: John Fisher Sekabira
