Water Quality Test in Wobulenzi (Two different Providers)

The water quality testing is intended to offer the beneficiaries and service providers with the quality of the drinking water being provided. The results will be used as the baseline information for the supplies and advocacy for continuous water quality monitoring. Controlling the quality at sources is important as contamination at a single tap may affect a large number of people and will be more significant than a failure at a number of taps that are only used for a single household.

In line with the above criteria of monitoring, some selected tap stands, storage tanks and kiosks were sampled from both Bukalasa Agricultural College and Wobulenzi Town water supplies. Also in areas / zones that were found with no taps but used alternative sources (boreholes, springs etc), these sources were also sampled for analysis.

METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE OF WORK
A total of 10 taps-stands, 4 water tanks and the main source outlet on Bukalasa Water Supply were sampled. However, some tap-stands that had earlier been programmed for sampling were found with no flowing water, and others had been disconnected. In Wobulenzi Town Council water samples were taken from a total of 4 Kiosks, 2 Tanks and 4 tap-stands. Also 6 boreholes within the town council were sampled as they served large population of people within the town. In the absence of flowing water in some zones e.g. Sikanusu zone, people collected water from a near by unprotected spring found in Wapamba zone. Of the 4 Kiosks mentioned above, one of them (Katongole Expedito) was served by a private motorized borehole was not part of the bigger water supply.

The scope of work involved: (1) Carrying out on- site physical quality tests on all the water points that were sampled using portable electronic meters. (2) Collecting water samples in pre-sterilized glass bottles for microbiological tests. (3) Sensitizing the community on the importance of maintaining a clean environment around the water points that were sampled.

RESULTS
Regarding PH, which affects the taste and corrosivity of the water: (i) For the town council waters supply, the average PH of the supply water points was 6.41. The recommended PH range for untreated water supply is 5.0 – 9.5. (ii) For the Bukalasa supplier, the average PH of the water supply was 5.99.

With regard to Turbidity that indicates the cloudiness of the water and affects the risk of infections disease transmission: (i) For the Town Council supplier the turbidity value of water in the sump (tank) was 0.86 NTU Compared to the average turbidity value of the water points which was 2.11 NTU. The maximum Turbidity Value recommended for untreated water supplies is 30 NTU. (ii) For the Bukalasa provider, the average water points Turbidity was 1.88 NTU, compared to the turbidity of water from the main source outlet which was 1.45 NTU. Though the variation was small, slightly higher turbidity values were recorded in all the tanks

Electrical conductivity / IDS, which affect the taste and freshness of the water: (i) For the Town Council provider, the average TDS values of all the water points were 148.4mg compared to the value of 149 mg/l of water in the sump. There was no significant change. The maximum acceptable TDS value for untreated water supply is 150mg/l. (ii) For the Bukalasa provider, generally there was a slight increase in the TDS value in the water supply. The average TDS was 112.3 mg/l compared to 83mg/l in the source out let.

Regarding Faecal coliforms, which indicates recent faecal pollution, and the potential risk of contracting infectious diseases: (i) For the Town Council provider, the results for all the water points were Satisfactory. (ii) For the Bukalasa provider, unsatisfactory results were obtained in the cylindrical water tank and Sakaaza tap stand. Acceptable results were obtained in the elevated tank. The rest gave satisfactory results. The maximum acceptable concentration for untreated water supply is 50 Cfu/100 ml of sample.

And finally Coliforms that indicates the general hygienic quality of the water: (i) For the Town Council provider, Semaganda , Florence Nabowa& Mrs. Betty Nakajubi tap- stands and Sikanusi kiosk showed Unsatisfactory bacteriological results. (ii) For the Bukalasa provider, the elevated tank, cylindrical water tank and Sekaaza tap- stand showed unsatisfactory bacteriological results. The maximum acceptable T-Coli concentration in untreated water supply is 100 cfu/100 ml of the sample

CONCLUSIONS
1. People collecting water from tap stands and boreholes always assume that the water is safe and hence no boiling is required. In order to protect public health, a lot of operation and maintenance is required to maintain good water quality.
2. Where water supply is unreliable, it forces people to use alternative water sources, possibly more distant and of lower quality which may increase the risk to health.
3. Discontinuity was noted in both water supplies. Discontinuity may increase the livelihood of contamination as the risk of back – siphoning into the distribution network is increased when pipes are at lower pressure than the surrounding soils.
4. Discontinuity in the town council water supply should be addressed to save the community from using alternative sources of inferior quality as evidenced by people of Sikanusu Zone that were using water from an unprotected spring located in Wapamba Zone. The spring had Unsatisfactory Water quality results.
5. General lack of alternative power supply in case of interrupted UEB power supply was the major cause of discontinuity of supply in the Town Council. This was also the main reason why most kiosks and tap-stands were not sampled at the time. However, it was observed that a stand-by generator was in place.
6. All the tanks of Bukalasa water supply should be cleaned and their cover tops properly fixed. Contamination of these tanks by feacal matter may have been as result of bird dropping washing into the tank since there were all installed on raised platforms. The line up to Sakaaza tap- stand should also be closely examined to identify whether there are leakages.

Applying the Survey of the Citizen Report Card (Data Collection)

To facilitate the selection of Households to be interviewed for each stratum in the village, tables of random numbers were used to avoid biased selection. The Field staffs were trained on the use of the tables of random numbers. For each village a total of 5 replacements HH were also selected although this was increased to 10 HH during the field due to some respondents having left completely the houses where they were residing initially. In some instances, the owners could not be seen although they were selected.

Field activity
The household survey data collection exercise was conducted over a period of ten days and started from the 29th of August 2008 and ended on 7th of September 2008. The team comprised of nine Research Assistants, two field supervisors and three specialists on the team monitored the field exercise. Data collection was successfully carried out in partnership with the Town council, Local Councilors and Water Board members. Two Service providers were interviewed as the NGOs currently working in the Town council, either do not provide services within the Town council or are not directly involved in Water. 8 Water Board members were also interviewed.

During the data collection process, the Research Assistants experienced different scenarios that are worth mentioning:
a) Tenants who connect water and then sale the water to their landlords, hence rather than the common scenario of the landlord being the owner of the water source i.e. the tap and being the one to pay the bills, it is the tenant who pays the water bill and sells water to the landlord.
b) There were tenants who are allowed by their landlords to use water in the house and water in the compound/plot at no cost. That is to say they have never paid for the water they use and the cost of water is also not included in their rent.
c) There are landlords who offer space on their land to service providers to construct water kiosks and compound taps in return for free water access. Hence these lands have piped water in their compound but cannot answer question on the application for connection, payment of bills.
d) There were also cases especially in Upper west were households visited had piped water connection but had never applied for the water because the household members found the houses already connected with water.
e) Similarly there are households that were found to be using both piped water sources as well as the borehole but were not paying for the water at all.