There is a looming water shortage in Gulu City as Oitino Dam 1 has started drying up. The dam is used by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation for supplying water to residents.
Water levels at the dam located about six kilometers outside Gulu City center began reducing last month but dropped extremely low in the past few days.
NWSC officials in Gulu City attribute the rapid decline in the water levels to the extreme dry spell being experienced in the region.
Ivan Tekakwo, the NWSC Northern region spokesperson says that the water level has dropped down to two meters from six meters. He explains that the reduction has left them unable to supply water at full capacity adding that only one pump instead of two is being used to supply only 3 million liters of water from 10 million.
He notes that if they are to operate at full capacity at the moment, the dam will run dry in the next two weeks.
Tekakwo says NWSC engineers are drawing plans on scheduling water rationing to ensure those in the elevated areas don’t go without water.
NWSC in the past sunk about eight boreholes and constructed another water supply point, Oitino Dam 2 to address the water crisis in the city.
But Tekakwo says the boreholes only produce about 2 million liters of water while Oitino dam 2 runs out of water only after about 20 minutes of pumping water which isn’t adequate for the water demand. He called on residents to use water sparingly in the meantime.
Already there is an interrupted water supply in several parts of Gulu City, majorly those on the elevated positions due to the reduced water levels at Oitino Dam, leaving many residents feeling the pinch.
Michael Omony, a resident of Layibi Techo in Bardege Layibi Division says they haven’t had stable tap water supply for the last two weeks. He says his family now mostly relies on a borehole, which is a few distances from their home for water.
Suzan Lalam, a resident of Lacan Kiwte also in Bardege Layibi Division says she is incurring hefty costs in transporting water for her bricklaying project since tap water supply has become irregular.
For instance, Lalam says she pays 500 Shillings for a jerry can of water fetched from a well including the transport cost yet the same is cheaper with NWSC water.
With the ongoing dry spell, NWSC officials in the city are now banking their hopes on an early return of rainfall to fill up Oitino Dam 1 for a full water supply to commence for the residents.
However, in the long run, the government through NWSC in Partnership with KfW, a German state-owned investment, and development bank recently injected 94 billion shillings in addressing the water woes in Gulu City under the Gulu Water Supply and Sanitation Project Phase 2.
The project launched early this month will benefit approximately 484,000 people in Gulu City and surrounding areas Koro Abili, Bobi, and Palenga in Omoro District, Kamdini, and Minakulu in Oyam district and Karuma to access clean and safe water.
This is not the first-time Oitino dam dried up following extreme weather conditions. Six years ago in March 2016, the dam dried up completely causing an acute water shortage for weeks.
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