BasIc Design Principles of Water Supply In Uganda

A water supply project should be designed on the basis of the following principles:

1. Capacity to satisfy demand at the projected service levels over the design
horizon
2. Provision of adequate safe and sanitary (potable) water;
3. Wise, effective, efficient and environmentally friendly use of the water
resource;
4. Safe and sound operation and maintenance of the water facilities;
5. The system and its operations to conform to the Water Act and any
regulations and guidelines related it;
6. Enhancement of the quality of living standards of the consumers; and
7. Appropriate and cost-effective technology relevant to the beneficiaries of the
system.

Technology Choices
The common technologies used in water supply in Uganda are:

i. Rainwater harvesting;
ii. Springs;
iii. Shallow (dug) wells;
iv. Deep boreholes;
v. Rock catchment;
vi. Dams;
vii. Gravity fed systems;
viii. Pumped water supplies; and
ix. Bulk water transfer systems. Not applicable in Uganda

Instances of Failure of Water Supples in Uganda

i. Failure of the water treatment system to provide water of acceptable quality;

ii. Failure of the pumping, storage and distribution system to supply adequate
water supply to the consumers;
iii. Failure of boreholes to provide adequate quantity and/or quality of water;
iv. Design failures where the new systems have failed to perform due to poor
system design;
 v. Destruction of water supplies by storm water, earth movements, lightning
strikes or other natural catastrophes;
vi. Drying up of the main source of raw water;
vii. Abandonment of water sources due to pollution; and
viii. Abandonment of sources due to environmental considerations such as
gazetting of the source
area as a protected zone.

Demand estimates

Demand for towns is categorised according to;

i. domestic,
ii. institutional and
iii. commercial categories.

A typical connection uses approx. 10 – 20 m3 per month, assuming that the majority
of connections represented are domestic and institutional (mainly schools).

Estmates of Non-Revenue Water

Non-revenue water is water lost through leakage, theft of water, pipe cleaning
requirements, social requirements (mainly fighting) and failure to collect invoiced
amounts. Theft and non-settlement of bills are operational losses.

For the designer, unaccounted for water, should

be assessed at 20 – 25% as recommended, with still higher figures for some of the
rehabilitation areas,
which can rise to 40% of the water supplied.
Significantly, ensure that systems for leak and waste detection are included in the
network design to assist the operators in locating and dealing with leakage and
wastage. propose techniques for assessment of consumption; the current system,
based on universal
metering, has several drawbacks, such as meter tampering, defective meters,
false/incorrect readings
and meters that are not calibrated.

Clmate Change and Clmate Varablty

design choices made at the design stage are ‘climate change proofed’, i.e. the
designer
should take into consideration the effects of climate change and climate variability.
These impacts
include:

i. Extremes of dry seasons,

ii. Extremes of flooding

The following should be considered when deciding whether to incorporate climate

change in design of water supply systems.

1. Scientific evidence based on observations from long-term monitoring

networks indicates that
climate change is occurring; however, effects differ regionally.
2. Climate change affects all sectors of water resources and there the need to
change design and
operational assumptions about resource supplies, system demands,
performance requirements,
and operational constraints.
3. Climate change is but one of many challenges facing water resources. A
holistic approach to
water resources should include all significant drivers of change.
4. Long-term monitoring is critical for detecting and quantifying climate change
and its impacts.
5. Monitoring needs to focus on locations that describe the climate signal (i.e.
upstream and downstream from major water infrastructure or in vulnerable
ecological reaches).
6. Paleo climate information and stochastic modelling can be useful for
developing climate scenarios that include a wide range of potential hydro
climatic conditions.
7. Current expectations about future climate may indicate a need to supplement
historical climate
information.
8. Adopting alternatives that perform well over a wide range of future scenarios
could improve
system flexibility.
9. Adaptive management is an approach where decisions are made sequentially
over time and
allows adjustments to be made as more information is known.
10. Adaptation options include operational, demand management, and
infrastructure changes.
11. Research and monitoring are both needed to fil knowledge gaps and set up
advances in planning
capabilities.