Analysis of WASH sector performance in Uganda: case study of access to safe water by region
Abstract
The report from the study presents information on WASH performance by region, focusing on
access to clean water and social economic factors in Uganda. The report also presents
recommendations for improvement in line with identified gaps and challenges. The sample for
the study was limited to the districts covered by the secondary data to be used for the study.
Therefore, a total of 135 districts and 5 regions of Uganda was considered in the study. Data
was collected from two sources which included the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and
Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE). Data was analyzed using SPSS using a sample
size of 5 regions.
Access to safe water fluctuated between 67% in 2015/16 to 70% in 2017/18 and falling back
to 68% in 2019/20 for rural areas. In urban areas basic water attained a high of 79% in 2018/19
and fell back to 71% in 2019/20. In 2019/20 the overall access to clean water in Uganda stands
at 71%. On average the level of access to clean water in Uganda is higher (72%) in rural areas
compared to urban areas (64%) . Northern region registered the highest (80%) level of access
to clean water, followed by Eastern with 70%, central region (without considering Kampala)
with 67%, western came last at 66%. Findings show that Northern region with the highest level
of access to clean water also has the highest number of boreholes, Eastern region which comes
in second place in terms of access to clean water has the largest share of pipe-water systems
while western which comes in third place has the highest number of rainwater harvesting
systems. The central region with a comparatively lower level of access to clean water.
The government and development partners should consider constructing more boreholes and
pipe water systems which are the biggest drives of clean water access in Northern and Eastern
Uganda. Doing this would increase access to western and central Uganda that are lagging
being.