Water Safety Plan Policy Provisions and
Status of Implementation in Uganda
Idrakua Lillian Amegovu
Assistant Commissioner
Ministry of Water & Environment, Uganda
Presentation Outline
Introduction
Provisions in Policy and Legal framework in support of WSPs
Ugandan Drinking Water Standards and Strategies
Status of Implementation of WSPs in Uganda
Challenges
Key Success factors for scaling up
Conclusion
Introduction
The existing policy and legal framework in Uganda with relevance to
water were developed between 1994 – 2000 after the UN conference on
Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 where Agenda
21 on freshwater resources was developed
The WSP concept started receiving serious international attention after
its inclusion in the 4th ed of the WHO guidelines on drinking water quality
in 2004
The existing policy and legal frameworks do not make explicit mention
of WSPs. There are provisions however, in these policies and laws that
provide enabling environment for:
provision of safe drinking water
catchment protection
Definition of roles for key stakeholders
Provisions for WSP in Policy & Legal
Framework
The 1995 Constitution of Uganda acknowledges access to 'clean and safe
water’ as a basic human right and that ‘The State shall take all practical
measures to promote a good water management system at all levels’
The Water Policy, 1999 provides for setting of national drinking water
quality standards as a one of the key functions of water resources
management
The Water Statute 1995 now The Water Act 2000 provides for
•establishment of a protected zone (may erect and maintain fences)on
land adjacent to any water, borehole, treatment or other works forming
part of a water supply or from which a water supply is drawn
•The Director may exercise any functions assigned by the Minister
including power to supervise or inspect. (Regulation unit under DWD)
Provisions for WSP in Policy & Legal
Framework
•DWD on behalf of the minister enters into Performance contracts with
water suppliers.
The National Water & Sewerage Corporation Statute, 1995
one of the objectives is to provide water supply services for domestic,
etc and to do anything connected or incidental to the above.
The Local Government Act, 1997
Assigns responsibility of provision of water services and maintenance of
facilities to local governments and urban centres but recognises the need for
central government agencies to provide support and guidance
Environment Act (2000) provides for
•gazetting of protection zones along river banks and lake shores (source of water
supplies)
•issuance of pollution licences for pollution control into the environment
•establishment of environmental standards including water quality standards
Ugandan Standards and Strategies
 In 2008, Uganda reviewed her drinking water quality standards and provisions
were made for WSPs in 3 standards:
 US 201 Drinking (potable) water
 US 43 Packaged natural mineral waters
US 42 Packaged water other than natural mineral waters
The 3 standards require operators to develop, operate and maintain a Water
Safety Plan taking into consideration the potential risks to the safety of the water
from source to consumer
observance of the provisions for WSPs shall be subject to periodic checks in
accordance with national requirements (Audited by UNBS)
Provisional certificates given and companies expected to put in place WSPs
within 6 months
Ugandan Standards and Strategies
UNBS has organised 2 training workshops so far for drinking water bottling
companies and trained 20 participants.
Trainings were facilitated jointly with department of Water Quality Management
3 companies out of the 20 trained have developed necessary documentation
The other 17 companies are implementing ISO 22,000 based on HACCP
principles
Ugandan Standards and Strategies
National Water Quality Management strategy (2006)
•recommends establishment of WSPs at all water facilities in urban
centres and based on technology in rural
•recommends 50 – 100m radius as protection zone for facilities,
reservoirs and specifically 100m for surface water intakes
Operation and Maintenance strategy. Functions of the Caretaker include
aspects of a WSP
The challenge with implementing strategies is that they are not legally
binding
Status of WSP Implementation in Uganda
National Water & Sewerage Corporation has established WSPs for the 23
Large towns under their jurisdiction with varying levels of complexity.
Population served by NWSC towns is 2.9 million people out of approximately to
32 million
Out of 137 urban centres with piped water supplies, 114 small towns do not
have WSPs
Rural population (27m) served mainly by point water sources: GFS,
boreholes, protected springs and shallow wells with no WSPs
Ministry of Water & Environment (Policy Maker & Regulator) has a
demonstration WSP at 1 small water supply as a way of supporting PWO in
implementing WSPs
Status of WSP Implementation in Uganda
Challenges at Kyenjojo Water Supply Demonstration WSP
•inadequate capacity of the private water operators
•inadequate documentation of the system (designs and equipment)
•Lack of record keeping
•finding skilled team members was a problem
•team members taking on additional roles on voluntary basis was an
issue
•maintaining a constant composition of trained team members and
•identifying willing external stakeholders and engaging them.
Challenges
Multiple stakeholders with different roles to play along the water supply chain. Most
challenging loop is the management of the water catchment (source of raw water)
Piped Water Supply
System
Responsibility
Catchment
Water Resources
sub- sector
Environment
Agriculture
Local
governments
NGOs
Treatment
Distribution
NWSC
Water Authorities
Local
governments
Consumer
Health
DWD
UNBS
Discussions on WSPs limit ‘the water catchment’ to the source of the raw water
Challenges
Challenges
Land tenure system and land use practices are a threat to catchment
protection
Inadequate capacity among Regulators (Regulation unit, UNBS and DWRM)
and water suppliers ( Private Water Operators for WSPs implementation except
NWSC)
Overlaps in roles: standard setting
Weak compliance and enforcement
of regulations
Lack of priority for water quality issues
visa viz production
Key success factors for scaling up
Awareness raising/Sensitisation of stakeholders at all levels to :
 introduce the WSP concept and its benefits
change attitudes
solicit support
bring relevant stakeholders on board
 Include WSP in Performance contracts as an immediate measure to enforce
implementation
Streamline institutional roles in order to enforce implementation of WSPs and
carry out audits
Capacity development
Key success factors for scaling up
Development of resource materials (IEC materials including visual aid) for operators as
reference materials at country level
Provision of technical support
Documentation of benefits to encourage willingness to try out the new concept and
influence policy changes
To create impact for WSPs, other small towns and small water supplies in the rural
areas have to be brought on board now
Conclusion
 Currently the WSP concept is missing in the main water laws in Uganda:
Water Policy & Water Act
WSPs however, have been incorporated in the Ugandan standards for potable
water and bottled water. The standards and guidelines however are regulatory
instruments that implement the Policy and Act.
WSPs however, can be implemented within existing policies and regulations
which have provisions for catchment protection , establishment of systems
to ensure safety of drinking water and defined institutional roles