Lira City has grappled with severe water challenges in the past few weeks. Different areas in the City receive water on specific days of the week, some for a few days and others for just a few hours. Now these woes did not just start yesterday following incidents in June 2020 after the rise in Lake Kwania water levels which saw the Lira water works faced with quite the challenge as the intake structures and road access were terribly affected.
The intake which is about 2km from the treatment plant inside the Lake was covered with a floating island and that way affected the production process. As if that was not enough, the rising water levels caused the collapse of some parts of the road through which one would access the treatment plant. There was continuous erosion of the generator house foundation, signs of failure (cracks) for island retaining walls, the power line to the intake affected which as a result disconnected power at the plant. In one word, disaster!
On the bright side however, interventions were exercised to elude anymore damages and maintain supply to the customers in Lira City.
“So how bad is the problem facing Lira City, now?” You ask.
Area Manager Lira Mr. Tukahirwa Gerazio attributed the water shortage in the City to frequent power outages.
“Demand in Lira has doubled and whenever power is off, we are forced to operate at half capacity which then takes us about 3-4 days to recover. We are therefore forced to ration water.” He said.
To the question about how much water Lira City needs, Mr. Tukahirwa states that there is currently a shortfall in the supply of about 3500 cubics in Lira City as NWSC is supplying 6500 cubics of water per day less than the total demand, which is 10,000 cubics of water per day.
However, the future is not bleak
On 8th February 2021, while appearing on a local radio station, Mr. Tukahirwa explained that whereas the plant is now upgraded to treat about 12 million liters of water per day, it can only lift 7 million liters of water daily versus the demand of 10 million liters of water per day.
“We have procured powerful generators and pumps and once the installation is completed, within 3 months production capacity will improve”, he affirmed.
Notably, there are several accomplished, ongoing and upcoming Water Supply Stabilization Plans for Lira City bound to address the water challenges in Lira City some of which include; A new submersible pump at the intake to mitigate flood effect on production, Upgrading of two filters, 3 big generators for the intake, treatment plant, and booster stations have been procured and delivered. This is to mitigate production scale down in times of power blackouts.
Still set to tackle the area’s water challenges are; 20km of network mains which have been upgraded, the procurement of high capacity high lift pumps in progress, and expected to be delivered in about 3 weeks, setting up of 3 mini treatment plants in dry zone areas of Ngetta, Lango College and Lira University, Rehabilitation and relocation of Ireda steel tanks, Construction of a booster station at Ireda currently ongoing and, last but not least, the ongoing Dokolo- Kachuung water project.
By;Ivan Tekakwo
PPRO-Northern Region
