For Ms Joan Nabirye, 32, fetching water is a daily struggle. She walks a long distance to the only source her family depends on in Kidera Village, Kidera Sub-county, in Buyende District.
The source is shared by residents, cattle and boda boda riders washing motorcycles.
Yet Nabirye and others collect the same water for drinking, cooking and other household needs, raising contamination concerns.
‘I have to walk all this way because we have no other source. I find cattle drinking and boda boda riders washing their motorcycles, but I still collect the same water because I have no alternative,’ Ms Nabirye says.
The journey takes several hours, taking time away from other activities.
Daily Monitor visited an open water source in Namulanda Village, Nkondo Sub-county, Buyende District, where residents collect water amid mud, animal droppings and open drainage.
Livestock freely entered the water source, exposing locals to contamination and waterborne diseases.
In Kivubuka Village (Jinja City), Ms Fatuma Namukose and other households rely on a dirty, poorly protected well for water for drinking, cooking, and other domestic needs due to lack of a nearby alternative.
‘We depend on this well because we have no other source nearby. The water is dirty, but we have no choice,’ Ms Namukose says.
Their experiences mirror a wider challenge across Busoga, especially in rural, island and lakeshore communities, where many rely on distant, unreliable or poorly protected water sources.
Busoga is endowed with abundant freshwater, with the River Nile cutting through the region, Lake Victoria to the south and Lake Kyoga to the north.
It also hosts hydropower dams, including Nalubaale, Kiira and Isimba, which generate electricity to support water pumping and distribution. Yet, many households still lack access to safe and reliable water.
Bridging the gap requires functional water infrastructure for abstraction, treatment, storage and distribution, supported by reliable power and maintenance.
The Ministry of Water and Environment defines access to safe water as living within one kilometre of an improved source in rural areas and 200 metres in urban areas.
According to the ministry, 63 percent of Ugandans had access to at least basic water services in 2024, based on World Health Organisation (WHO)/Unicef estimates, but only about 17 percent had safely managed drinking water.
In Busoga, poverty, scattered and hard-to-reach communities, islands, lakeshore settlements, poor sanitation, pollution and limited investment further constrain access.
The ministry’s 2026 Uganda Water Supply Atlas shows wide disparities. As of March 25, 2026, safe-water coverage stood at 38 percent in Buyende, 50 percent in Namutumba, 54 percent in Kaliro, 57 percent in Bugweri and Mayuge, and 60 percent in Bugiri.
Coverage was 62 percent in Namayingo, 66 percent in Jinja District, 69 percent in Iganga, 78 percent in Kamuli and 88 percent in Jinja City.
In Buyende District, water access remains a challenge, with some communities relying on unprotected sources, according to district chairperson Sharif Mangaraine.
He says floods in 2018 and 2019 not only claimed lives but also damaged several boreholes, leaving communities without reliable water sources, while Lake Kyoga continues to overflow during heavy rains
‘Some boreholes sank due to flooding that hit the district in 2018 and 2019. They were overwhelmed by the floods,’ Mr Mangaraine says.
He adds that several communities around Lake Kyoga, including Greater Kidera, Nkondo, Buyende and Irundu, need new boreholes.
The Buyende District leader says the challenge has been worsened by the creation of more than 120 new administrative units, many of which lack water sources.
Mr Mangaraine adds that limited funding will restrict the district to drilling fewer than 20 boreholes this financial year, despite the need for more new water sources across the district.
He says piped water coverage in the district’s town councils is also below five percent, with low household incomes making it difficult for residents to afford the service. ‘Many people cannot afford piped water, so they have to walk long distances to boreholes or rely on unprotected water sources,’ Mr Mangaraine says.
He says funding for the new administrative units remains inadequate to extend water services. ‘The government created these administrative units, but up to date the funding they receive is still very small. It cannot afford them a water connection,’ he says.
In Mayuge District, Chairperson David Zijja says limited funding has left several communities without adequate safe water. He says the district previously received funding for 16 boreholes annually, but the allocation has fallen to 10 this financial year for its 16 lower local governments and more than 600 villages.
The shortage is worse on the district’s seven islands, where some residents rely on lake water for drinking and household use.
‘People drink directly from the lake. Some landing sites have no toilets, so people defecate in the water, which is also used by animals ,for bathing, and household needs,’ he says.
Mr Zijja says maintaining water points is also difficult, with funds to repair only 10 of 30 reported broken boreholes.
‘You can receive a report of 30 boreholes needing repair, but resources may only cover 10,’ he says, calling for increased funding to expand and maintain water infrastructure, especially in rural and island communities.
In Luuka, water bodies remain untapped. Luuka District Chairperson Peter Kafuko Mulyandawo says water access is particularly low in Ikumbya Sub-county, where coverage stands at about 30 percent.
He says residents often walk long distances to collect water from swamps and other unprotected sources, while few boreholes are inadequate or broken.
Mr Mulyandawo explains that the district’s water bodies remain undeveloped for domestic use, with Namatope Dam heavily silted and Rumbuye River affected by sedimentation and pollution from rice growing.
The district has asked the Water ministry to desilt Namatope Dam for domestic use and production, while working with partners such as Water Mission to expand water projects.
However, Mr Mulyandawo says government funding remains inadequate, with only 12 boreholes planned for the district’s 12 sub-counties in Financial Year (FY) 2026/2027, one per sub-county.
‘The government is funding only 12 boreholes for the district, yet we have 12 sub-counties, meaning each gets just one borehole,’ he says, calling for more investment in water infrastructure, including solar-powered systems to pump, treat and distribute water from existing water bodies.’These water bodies should be turned into clean water sources for domestic use,’ he says.
Bugiri offers a different picture
In Bugiri, district water engineer Robert Mwesigwa says coverage stands at about 80 percent. He says most villages have at least three functional boreholes, although breakdowns occur.
The Water Supply Atlas, updated in March 2026, lists more than 146,000 domestic water points serving about 31 million people. But over 5,300 had been abandoned because they had been dysfunctional for more than five years, while rural water source functionality stood at about 84 percent.
However, Mr Mwesigwa says proximity to major water bodies does not guarantee groundwater access. ‘Areas near major water bodies have poor groundwater potential, so drilling may not yield water,’ he says.
Mr Mwesigwa says communities in such areas could draw water from the lake through larger schemes, but this requires significant investment.’If there is money, communities can draw water from the lake through larger schemes, but they are expensive,’ he says.
Mr Mwesigwa says borehole drilling costs vary by depth, while maintenance costs are generally manageable.
His explanation points to a key challenge in Busoga: abundant surface water does not guarantee accessible groundwater or safe drinking water without investment in treatment and distribution infrastructure.
The consequences of unsafe water are already visible in parts of Busoga.
In 2024, investigations by the Busoga Regional Emergency Operations Centre linked outbreaks of diseases, including cholera and food-borne illnesses, in parts of Jinja and Luuka to contaminated water from shared sources.
In Jinja City, Woman MP Ms Sarah Lwansasula is addressing water shortages in underserved communities by supporting borehole drilling in areas with limited access to safe water.
Her interventions include boreholes in Kivubuka in Budondo Ward, Kibibi Primary School, Wakitaka Health Centre III, and Masese Co-Primary School.
‘Safe water is not a luxury. It is essential for the health and wellbeing of our communities, especially children and patients,’ she says.
Ms Lwansasula says more communities need support and calls for greater investment in water infrastructure to reduce reliance on distant or unprotected sources.
In Bugweri, County MP Mr Sadala Wandera has drilled more than 100 boreholes across Namalemba, Makutu, Ibulanku and Igombe sub-counties, as well as Busesa, Idudu and Busembatya town councils, to improve access to safe water.
‘We realised many people walked long distances or spent hours at congested boreholes, so we increased water points to bring water closer,’ Mr Wandera says.
‘Water is a basic need. Our priority is to move people away from unprotected sources and provide reliable water closer to their homes,’ he says.
government response
Mr Samuel Oyo, the regional manager of the Eastern Umbrella of Water and Sanitation at the Ministry of Water and Environment’s Eastern Region offices in Mbale City, says Busoga’s abundant water resources do not automatically guarantee access to safe water because they require infrastructure for abstraction, treatment, storage and distribution.
He says inadequate financing, rapid population growth, ageing infrastructure, limited distribution networks and the high cost of extending services to dispersed communities remain major challenges.
‘Financing and the resulting infrastructure gap remain the major constraint,’ Mr Oyo says, adding that inadequate funding affects the construction of new water systems, expansion of distribution networks, rehabilitation, treatment and maintenance.
He says some communities still rely on wells, rivers, lakes and other unimproved sources because formal water systems have not reached them. ‘In some areas, piped systems exist, but the distribution network has not reached all households,’ he says.
Mr Oyo says maintaining existing water systems is also a challenge due to vandalism and theft, ageing infrastructure, pump breakdowns, inadequate rehabilitation funding and poor maintenance.
He adds that some systems generate insufficient revenue to meet operation and maintenance costs.
The ministry, he says, is strengthening operation and maintenance arrangements and moving towards more professional management of water systems.