The measures under this phase were implemented by a Technical Implementation Consultant (TIC) and then by Fichtner W&T and jointly financed by World Bank (WB) and KfW. These included both water and sanitation measures as below;
1. Water Supply
Objective:
To ensure sufficient supply of water to cover the needs of the population of Gulu and the surrounding areas.
Extraction of water from the Nile at Karuma Dam and transmission to Gulu:
Planned activities:
- Design and construction of a new water Treatment plant near Karuma Dam.
- Design and construction of a pipeline from the Nile at Karuma to Gulu.
- Water supply to the 6 en-route towns along the Karuma-Gulu highway i.e. (Karuma, Minakulu, Kamdini, Bobi, Palenga, Koro Abili).
- Construction of a storage reservoir at Custom Corner in Gulu.
In addition, a water source protection plan was finalized. The source protection plan covers a number of water sources namely:
i)The abstraction point on River Nile
ii) The Oyitino catchment basin
iii) NWSC operated boreholes within Gulu Municipality
iv) 15 springs and boreholes within the Municipality.
In March 2018, a Project brief was submitted to the Client, outlining the requirements for the construction of the water In-take at the Nile in Karuma and Water Treatment Plant at Nora Village in Oyam. The construction of the Water In-take at Karuma was carried out and finalized. Other water supply components covered in the project brief included; a 71-km transmission main to Gulu, water supply to the 6 en-route towns of Karuma, Minakulu, Kamdini, Bobi, Palenga and Koro Abili and construction of a reinforced reservoir at Custom Corner in Gulu.
Accomplishments:
The works on the Nile water In-take were completed in 2019.
The finalized works for the new Water and Sewage Network were under the supervision of Fichtner Water & Transportation since July 2019. The renovation works on the existed Gulu water & sewage pipelines were completed, the pipelines were tested and are fully operational.
The renovated Gulu water treatment plant is now fully operational with a regional laboratory onsite and a dedicated water quality control team. The dam at Oyitino 1 was also raised to increase raw water catchment volume for production.
With regard to Faecal Sludge Management and Treatment of faecal waste, faecal sludge treatment plant was constructed in Pece Cubu, the plant is operational and the drying beds are also in use.
The waste water lagoons in Pece Lukung were also renovated, fenced and other facilities added onto the existed ones.
Some Community leaders that include L.C 1, Village health teams and the Gulu City Development Forum members have been frequently mobilized to visit the sites for water works and have been re-assured on the quality of tap water.
2. Sanitation
Objective:
- To maintain good hygiene and health in schools and communities.
VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE:
Pit latrines are the major contaminants of ground water and yet the majority of households in Gulu are still using traditional pit latrines. Therefore, better options that can be used for private sanitation with sealed and drain-able pits exist.
Planned activities include:
- Dissemination of Private On-Site Sanitation Facilities and in particular Task.
- Development and implementation of water, hygiene and sanitation marketing campaigns at household level.
- Implementation of Hygiene and Sanitation Promotion Campaigns at Primary and Secondary Schools.
- Setup of public incentive schemes and financing facilities for the construction and the emptying of private toilets.
- Creation of efficient and sustainable management models for public toilets for the Municipality.
- Business development of small scale sanitation entrepreneurs.
Progress:
The Sanitation Marketing strategy has been implemented. Stakeholder consultations and interviews were held with various schools and proposed actions put in place.
In addition, WASH Campaigns were undertaken with various hand washing facilities installed in schools and other Public places. Sensitization messages on proper use of toilets were also disseminated in all the project’s sanitation facilities constructed in the city and some school pupils from health clubs were also empowered to write their sanitation related stories that were meant to be modified and shared with other schools countrywide.
The Wash A lot hand washing campaign was also implemented and the facility was first built in Pece Prisons P. School for Demonstration and after its adoption by the teachers and the pupils of the school, it was constructed in all the schools with the first design of toilets under phase 1a.
Menstrual health management campaigns in schools were done and the re-usable pads given to pupils.
Proposals for affordable household toilet options/technologies were developed and demonstration toilet showroom built in Pece division and these different technologies were later marketed.
Consultations were made with the L.C1s and Village Health Teams with-regards to household and communal on-site facilities that were either fully or partly funded by the Project’s Funding Agency depending on the vulnerability of the households/communities.
Additional Studies and Services
i) Sustainable concept for PSP, toilets and protected springs.
The O&M concepts for public and institutional toilets have been finalized.
ii) Source protection plans for urban water sources
The reports were finalized.
Other additional activities in relation to hygiene and the fight against Covid-19
1. Community Sensitization on the importance of hand washing.
- Objective:
To maintain good hygiene and limit the spread of preventable diseases.
Progress:
The sensitization campaigns were carried out by VHTs and supervised by the health inspectors in the entire City (former municipality boundaries). During this activity, the teams were provided with mobile hand washing facilities for demonstration in the communities, face masks for their own protection against Corona virus and reflector jackets for proper identification.
2. Repair of broken down boreholes in the city (former municipality boundaries).
Due to the urgent need for water during the Covid-19 crisis and the status of some water sources in the municipality, the project through its sanitation department, repaired some boreholes in order to increase water accessibility in the affected communities.
Criteria for selecting a borehole to be repaired.
- The borehole must have been at least 1 km from the nearest public stand post/water kiosk.
- Only boreholes that broke down during the Corona-virus pandemic and could not be repaired by the water-user committee due to the inability to collect user fees during this period were repaired.
Progress:
The works were finalized and a total of eleven (11) boreholes were repaired in Gulu City, the former municipality boundaries.
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