Kampala Water and the Fire prevention and rescue services birthed a new programme dubbed “Fire Hydrant Abuse Reduction (FHAR)” during a meeting held at the fire brigade headquarters to address the issue of misuse of fire hydrants.
The meeting discussed granting NWSC the right to inspect fire hydrants all over the greater Kampala Metropolitan so as to account for water collected by firefighting trucks. The parties also discussed close monitoring of the hydrants, producing monthly reports on water usage, and following up on the installation of fire hydrants in areas such as Kajansi and Kawempe.
The meeting arrived at new ways to manage fire hydrants that are not within the police firefighting stations, as the public has a tendency of accessing water illegally, affecting service delivery and revenue collection for the corporation.
Representing the Fire Prevention and Rescue Services, the Deputy Director FPRS-CP Hassan Kihanda welcomed the collaboration and stated that his team is embracing the use of GIS to help monitor the hydrants constantly. He added that they intend to engage the team which operates CCTV cameras to help curb issues of misuse of the hydrants.
The meeting was followed by an inspection which revealed that out of 44 water hydrants visited, 3 were not functional, some hidden by vegetation and some turned into rubbish receptacles.
This misuse of fire hydrants is one of the avenues in which NWSC loses water resulting in significant financial losses for the Corporation. In 2022 alone, the corporation lost over 21 billion to NRW caused by either physical or commercial losses.
The FHAR program aims to reduce this misuse and improve on business growth for the Corporation.
Notably, the National Water and Sewerage Corporation was represented by a team from Kampala Water composed of; the Senior Manager Water Supply-Eng. Francis Kateeba, Ag Senior Manager NRW-Ms. Fredah Mugenyi, and the Network Manager WEZ-Mr. Moses Nandigobe.
