Water Resources
As a whole, Uganda has more than enough freshwater. Estimates indicate 66 km³ of renewable water resources per year, which correspond to approximately 2,800 m³ per person and year. However, the distribution of the resource is uneven both in spatial and temporal terms. Furthermore, freshwater is increasingly exploited through population growth, urbanization, agriculture, and industrialization.
The rivers, lakes and wetlands cover about 18% of Uganda's total surface, including Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake and one of the major sources of the Nile River, the longest river of the world. Almost the entire country lies within the Nile basin. Rainfall contributes most to the country's surface and groundwater. The average annual rainfall ranges from 900 mm in the semi-arid areas of Kotido to 2000 mm on the Sese Islands in Lake Victoria. There is a lack of groundwater recharge assessments in Uganda, which is why the potential of groundwater is not known. However, regional assessments in Ugandan towns have indicated that groundwater recharge meets the current abstraction volumes. In order to monitor the quantity and quality of groundwater and surface water, the National Water Resources network has been established under the responsibility of the Water Resources Management Department (WRMD).
The water level in Lake Victoria has been receding with manifold consequences, including the need for additional investments to extend the water intakes supplying the cities of Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja. Between 2003 and 2006 the lake has lost 75 billion cubic meters, about 3% of its volume. The causes of the decline are disputed. According to some reports it is due to a 10-15% decline in rainfall in the lake's basin. However, according to Daniel Kull, a hydrologist with the UN's International Strategy for Disaster Reduction in Nairobi, the drought would have caused only half the water loss actually seen if two hydroelectric dams at the outlet of the Lake into the White Nile had been operated during the past two years according to an agreement from the 1950s on the Nile flows between Uganda and Egypt.
Read more about this topic: Water Supply And Sanitation In Uganda
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