The Effectiveness Of Water Collection And Storage Methods In Kaptererwo Subcounty, Bukwo District

ABSTRACT

Water collection and storage is one of the challenges faced in most developing countries.

This research was carried out in Kaptererwo sub county, Bukwo district Eastern Uganda.

This areas lies on the slopes of Mount Elgon bordering Kenya. The study aimed at

examining the effectiveness of water conservation methods considering three objectives;

identifying the techniques used for water harvesting, determining the effectiveness of water

collection facilities and finding out the challenges faced in water collection and storage. The

researcher based on the fact that Bukwo district is referred to as a forgotten district because

of the low level of development considering the accessibility to human basic needs and other social services like electricity, roads among others.

The researcher also used qualitative and quantitative research approaches and different

methods were used in collection of data which included questionnaires, interviews, focus

group discussions and observation. Mount Elgon is a source of very many rivers but people

who live there still lack accessibility to safe and clean water due to lack of government

support in most of the areas of concern.

During the study, the researcher found out that the use ofjerricans and pots is the most used technique used by the people in water collection (30%) because pots are locally available while jerricans are a bit cheaper. The least used technique in water storage was the use of tanks (16%) which people said that they are very expensive. The use of containers like jerricans and pots was again raised as the most effective technique (37%) used in ater collection because they can fetch rain water and surface water from rivers and boreholes compared to tanks (17%) which only collect rain water and using it still requires the use of containers. Among the respondents interacted with, 35% of them reported that biggest challenge faced by the people Kaptererwo Sub County is the steepness of the area. Mount Elgon is among the steepest mountains in Uganda and people find it very hard to carry water

from down the slopes up or even from up to down the slopes. The researcher recommends

the government of Uganda to extend piped water to the nearest points possible, construct

boreholes and tanks for the people and also helping the people to eradicate poverty in Bukwo district and also carry out different sensitization programmes.