Introduction
Provision of safe water and sanitation, their proper use and management are necessary conditions for good health and economic development. As one of the first countries to benefit from the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief, Uganda has established the Poverty Action Fund to channel the HIPC funds and mobilize additional resources for priority programmes including water and sanitation. Government has therefore established sector working groups, including one on water and sanitation, involving line ministries and development partners. These groups are tasked with mobilizing resources for the respective sectors, among other activities. The water sector policy, strategies and investment plans are key documents for resource mobilization.

Access to safe water
Uganda played a major role in the discussions on improving access to safe water and proper sanitation during the 2003 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The government therefore remains committed, and with support from her sector development partners, will most likely meet these millennium targets by the year 2015. The national rural water coverage currently stands at about 55 percent and while the urban water coverage is 65 percent. As of June 2003, an estimated 9.6 million people in rural areas and 1.1 million people in urban areas lacked access to safe water. To meet the goal, government needs to increase the rural water coverage by 22 percent to reach 77 percent coverage and the urban water coverage by 18 percent to 83 percent coverage by 2015. Approximately US$594 million is needed to achieve this goal for rural water coverage, and another $350 million for urban water coverage.

© Camerapix

On sanitation, about 50 percent of households in rural areas use some form of sanitation facilities. Government feels that it will be possible to meet the WSSD goal if communities and households are effectively mobilized and sensitized. The urban areas are poorly served, with only 12 of the 33 large towns in Uganda having sewerage systems, but even then, in an appalling situation. Less than 10 percent of the urban population is connected to the sewers and the rest use pit latrines. A master plan for sanitation is being prepared and there is need to intensify our effort in mobilizing local and external resources for sanitation. Sanitation development, compared to water supply, has however generally proved an expensive intervention.

The Water Supply and Sanitation Policy
The national water policy for Uganda was prepared in 1996. The policy objective of the Ugandan government is to manage and develop the water resources of Uganda in an integrated and sustainable manner, so as to secure and provide water of adequate quantity and quality for all social and economic needs, with the full participation of all stakeholders, and so as not to leave the future generations any worse off than the present.
This policy was formulated to:
• Promote the rational use of water.
• Promote the provision of safe water supply for domestic use.
• Promote the orderly development and use of water resources for purposes other than domestic, such as agriculture, industry, mining, hydroelectric energy, navigation, fishing, conservation and recreation.
• Control pollution and promote the safe storage, treatment and disposal of waste which pollutes water and harms health.

A policy proposal document which includes a policy on environmental health and sanitation has been completed and is pending approval by the Cabinet. The policy contains ten objectives that aim to promote and preserve the health of the community through improved sanitation.
Latest developments in the sector
The government is under-taking a water sector reform to ensure that the services are provided and managed with increased performance and cost effectiveness to serve the entire Ugandan population. Two reform studies (rural and urban water and sanitation services) have been completed and have come up with a $1.5 billion investment plan to provide 100 percent service coverage to all Ugandans by 2015. In he meantime, the water for production and water resources management sub-sector reform studies are ongoing.

Millennium target in sight
In May 2004, government announced that it had achieved much in the provision of adequate and clean water for human consumption and production. This is in line with its effort to meet the millennium targets by the year 2015. The Minister of State for environment, Lt. Gen. Jeje Odongo said Uganda now has 60 gazetted water authorities, 50 of which have operational water systems. This, he added, was an improvement by seven from the previous 43.

GTZ extends grant
The German Government, through the Germany Technical Corporation (GTZ), its development arm, extended a grant of euro 2.5m (about sh3b) for training of National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) workers in April 2004. The grant, which was advanced through the ministry of water, lands and environment also aims to improve urban water supply. Part of the money is to be used to install a management information system to enable the corporation modernise its services. About 100 employees have already been trained in billing, customer care, accounting and management information system solutions.

NW&SC goes rural
The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NW &SC) announced plans to extend its services to rural areas in February 2004. The move is in line with its mission of making the parastatal a truly national body.

Government calls for cash consultants
Government has invited consultants to track down the effectiveness of the flow of funds to 10 Water Sanitation Sector Projects, and suggest ways of improving their use. Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment plan to use a grant received by the Directorate of Water Development from the Danish Development Agency, the Swedish Development Co-operation Agency and the Department of Foreign International Development for the project. The grant is part of funds given to the Policy and Sector Capacity Development Component of the Joint Partner-ship Fund to the Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment. The purpose is to track down the effectiveness of the flow of funds from the Consolidated Fund and donors to the end user. It also aims to make suggestions about improving the management of funds in the delivery of water and sanitation services.

Sh112b for water sector in 2004/05 FY
During the 2004/05 FY, the water sector has been allocated Sh112b up from sh97b in the 2003/04 FY. Within this allocation, sh30 billion is for the District Rural Water and Sanitation Development Conditional Grant, and sh1.5b for operation and maintenance support to the Small Towns water system. This funding is in line with government’s intention to increase rural water coverage from the current 58 per cent to 61 per cent by June 2005.

Major challenges to the sector development
Though water is life, it is one of the sectors facing funding limitations every other year. The ministry for water mostly depends on donor support to finance its developmental programmes. Government therefore faces a challenge of mobilizing resources to reduce the sector deficits to ensure that it fulfills its developmental plans. The sector is also run basing on inadequate or outmoded legal framework. The 1996 national water policy needs urgent review to ensure that it falls in line with the current developments that emphasise private enterprise involvement in the sector. The policy also has an inadequate cost-recovery framework which costs the National Water and Sewerage Corporation millions of would be revenue per year. The Corporation also has insufficient trained personnel to operate and maintain its system. This is in addition to the logistical problems facing the sector and the intermittent water services in most parts of the country.

Conclusion
The current water policy aims to ensure that Uganda attains the 2015 millennium which will ensure that all people get access to clean water. But Cabinet is yet to approve a new policy proposal document which includes a policy on environmental health and sanitation. This policy is not only important for enhancing the existing framework under which the various government and NGOs operate. It will also open up avenues for private sector involvement in the provision of water and sanitation services. Secondly, government should, together with her development partners ensure that the above logistical problems are addressed. By addressing the above logistical and policy challenges, the popular slogan, “Water For All by 2015” will become a reality.