Waiting for Uncle Sam to fix Akwoyo spring well
By Lydia Mirembe
The thought of a clean, safe, rural water source brings to mind images
of pure water, flowing from a sparkling clean pipe, surrounded by well tended
gardens, with users patiently waiting for their turn in straight queues. When I
think about safe water sources, I never imagine pools of stagnant water, nor
muddy puddles layered with algae and all sorts of litter. But that may be a
dreamer’s mind at work!
A visit to Akwoyo spring well, paints a different picture
altogether. Serving about 400 households, Akwoyo spring well is considered one
of the safer sources in Tebung Anywomorem village, Ngetta sub-county in Lira
district. This has been the main source of water in this area since the 1980s.
In 2008, Uganda Red Cross Society intervened and turned it into a protected
spring. Four years down the road, the well needs a touch up. Huge cracks have
developed, the soak pit is filled up, the surroundings are littered with
polythene papers, sugarcane husks…..even cow dung.
When I visited the well on the sizzling
afternoon of 18th January 2012, the scene was bustling with activity.
No one seemed to be bothered by the state of disrepair. Children were playing;
women were doing laundry and others were washing dirty jerry cans; someone had
just washed a pile of kitchen utensils. The outlet pipe was almost fully
immersed in stagnant water but a young girl was happily filling her jerry can,
with her legs covered in water up to the knees.
But things could be better at Akwoyo well, if
the users put a little more effort. In 2011, IRC/Triple-S Uganda in conjunction
with SNV and Makerere University introduced the Mobile Phone for Water (M4W)
initiative, through which community members can report a fault using short
message services (SMS). During the baseline study, the Hand Pump Mechanic (HPM)
of Ngetta reported the deplorable state of Akwoyo spring well and advised
community members to raise money for materials to repair the well. The whole
job required about UGX400,000 (US$ 150). That was in November 2011. Three
months down the road, not even a shilling has been collected.
And why, one wonders, is it not possible for
400 households to raise four hundred thousand shillings? Some of them argue that the amount is far
beyond what the community can manage and so they need the intervention of the
district. But no one among the users has reported to the sub county
authorities! Moreover, the users never pay user fees, which means the Water
User Committee does not have any start up funds in their coffers.
Mzee Okwe Oteng, 57, has a ready answer to all
these unanswered questions. “We are waiting for our Member of Parliament Hon. Sam
Engola. I am sure if we told him our need he would come to our aid,” Oteng says
assuredly. The same view is echoed by
23-year old Okello Nyerere. Oteng and
Nyerere are brewers, whose business requires drums-full of clean safe water,
but they can’t be bothered about the untended village well.
I
leave Akwoyo spring well wondering what is the least that the users can do as
they wait for Uncle Sam.
This article can also be accessed @ http://www.waterservicesthatlast.org/Countries/Uganda-Triple-S-initiative/News-events/Waiting-for-Uncle-Sam-to-fix-Akwoyo-spring-well.
