wH2O: The Journal of Gender and Water

Volume 8 Article 1

2021

Children’s Experience With Water Scarcity In Rural Rakai, Uganda

Innocent R. Kamya
Makerere University, [email protected]

Narathius Asingwire
Makerere University, [email protected]

Dauda B. Waiswa
Makerere University, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation
Kamya, Innocent R.; Asingwire, Narathius; and Waiswa, Dauda B. (2021) "Children’s Experience With Water
Scarcity In Rural Rakai, Uganda," wH2O: The Journal of Gender and Water: Vol. 8 , Article 1.
Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/wh2ojournal/vol8/iss1/1

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Children’s Experience With Water Scarcity In Rural Rakai, Uganda

Abstract
This article presents findings on children’s experience in accessing and utilizing water in two sub-counties
of Kagamba and Lwanda; one extremely water-scarce and the other relatively water plenty in Rakai
district, Uganda. We answer the following question: How do children in a water-scarce context experience
water and what does it mean for their wellbeing? A survey was conducted among school-going children
aged 11-17 years (N=405), combined with focus group discussions with children and women. Access to
adequate safe water was the fifth most frequently mentioned component of wellbeing. A majority of the
children affirmed that water scarcity was the biggest threat to their wellbeing. Water scarcity posed both
direct and indirect threats; the direct threat resulting from long distances and risks at the water point.
Indirectly, the poor quality of water increased susceptibility to water-related illness. A majority of the
children experienced a water problem in their home and were unhappy living in such a situation.
Unhappiness also resulted from reduction of playing time, punishment and body aches. Fetching water
made up the bulk of the chores performed by children, making it a drudgery due to using heavy water
vessels, long distances covered and the number of trips to the water point per day. Childhood, in the
context of domestic water scarcity encompasses vulnerability. It hence requires protection through the
improvement of domestic water access, both in terms of quantity and quality.

Keywords
water scarcity, child wellbeing, children, Uganda, Rakai

Cover Page Footnote

Innocent .R. Kamya, Doctoral Student, Departmentof Sociology and Anthropology, Makerere University.
Narathius Asingwire, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work and Social Administration,
Makerere University. Dauda .B. Waiswa. Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Anthropology,
Makerere University. The study was partially funded by the WASO-Africa Project.

This research is available in wH2O: The Journal of Gender and Water: https://repository.upenn.edu/wh2ojournal/vol8/
iss1/1
wH2O: The Journal of Gender and Water RESEARCH

Children’s Experience with Water Scarcity in Rural Rakai, Uganda

Innocent R. Kamya, Narathius Asingwire, Dauda B. Waiswa
Makarere University, Kampala, Uganda

KEY WORDS ABSTRACT

water scarcity, child wellbeing, children,
Uganda, Rakai This article presents findings on children’s experience in accessing and utilizing
water in two sub-counties of Kagamba and Lwanda; one extremely water-scarce
and the other relatively water plenty in Rakai district, Uganda. We answer the fol-
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR lowing question: How do children in a water-scarce context experience water and
Innocent R Kamya: what does it mean for their wellbeing? A survey was conducted among school-go-
[email protected] ing children aged 11-17 years (N=405), combined with focus group discussions
with children and women. Access to adequate safe water was the fifth most fre-
quently mentioned component of wellbeing. A majority of the children affirmed
that water scarcity was the biggest threat to their wellbeing. Water scarcity posed
both direct and indirect threats; the direct threat resulting from long distances and
risks at the water point. Indirectly, the poor quality of water increased susceptibil-
ity to water-related illness. A majority of the children experienced a water prob-
lem in their home and were unhappy living in such a situation. Unhappiness also
resulted from reduction of playing time, punishment and body aches. Fetching
water made up the bulk of the chores performed by children, making it a drudgery
due to using heavy water vessels, long distances covered and the number of trips
to the water point per day. Childhood, in the context of domestic water scarcity
encompasses vulnerability. It hence requires protection through the improvement
of domestic water access, both in terms of quantity and quality.

world’s second driest continent, with 38% of the population

1 INTRODUCTION living in water-scarce environments. In sub-Saharan Africa,
32% of the population lacks access to an improved source of
Globally, it has been estimated that one-third of the total
water (UNICEF & WHO, 2015). This water scarcity situa-
population lives under physical water scarcity even though
tion is more likely to impact children.
some people also experience social water scarcity. The
United Nations (UN) has set, as one of its goals1, to increase Physical water scarcity can either be demand or supply-driv-
the supply of safe water globally to address water scarci- en (Kummu et al., 2010; Sorenson et al., 2011). It has,
ty and substantially reduce the number of people suffering however, been argued that there is enough water in the world
from water scarcity (WHO & UNICEF, 2017). Africa is the to provide people with their basic water needs and that the

1 Sustainable Development Goal Six; Target 6.4(United Nations, 2020).

4 Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:1

shortage of water for primary purposes is attributed to life- Figure 1: Area boundaries of Kagamba and Lwanda
style, poor management and the lack of financing (Savenije, Sub counties in Rakai District
2000).
In Uganda, 68% of the population is estimated to have access
to a safe water source, with variations from 33% to 95%
in some areas (Ministry of Water and Environment, 2019);
in the Financial Year (FY) 2018/19, the access rate stood
at 69% for the rural areas and 79.1 % for the urban areas
(GoU, 2019). The figures from the UN-Joint Monitoring Pro-
gramme (JMP), based on the water service ladder2, indicate
that 42.03% of Ugandans have a basic water service level;
31.7% limited service; 7.1% have a safely managed service
level; 6.7% use surface water and 12.5% use an unimproved
source [(no service level) (Joint Monitoring Programme,
2020)]. Households in rural areas travel an average of 0.8 km
to the main water source (GoU, 2015). This burden dispro-
portionally falls on women and children who are the primary
water collectors. Approximately, 22% of the country’s chil- 3 METHODS
dren obtain water from unimproved water sources, while
24% of them are severely deprived, having to travel long dis- The study5 used a cross-sectional research design applying
tances or wait in long queues for safe water (UNICEF, 2019). both qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative
This study sought to document children’s encounters with data was collected through a survey of school-going chil-
water in the context of scarcity. The questions that are an- dren and the qualitative data was collected through focus
swered include: What are the experiences of children with group discussions (FGDs) with children and women within
water as a resource in water-scarce rural environments? What the villages where the schools of the survey participants
is the implication of the scarcity on child wellbeing? are located. The data was collected from two sub-counties,
namely, Kagamba, an extremely water-scarce area (7% safe
water access) and Lwanda sub-county that is considered
2 THE STUDY AREA water plenty (87% safe water access) (Ministry of Water and
Environment, 2019). The children’s survey was conducted in
The study was conducted in Rakai district in Southwestern twelve public schools; six in each of the sub-counties. Ten
Uganda. The district is situated in the cattle corridor3 in the out of the twelve were primary schools and two were sec-
southwestern part of the central region of Uganda (Global ondary schools. The primary schools were randomly selected
Water Partnership Eastern Africa, 2016) and has 3 counties, from all the public schools within each sub-county, taking
19 sub-counties and 3 town councils (Figure 1). In the dis- half of them. Each of the sub-counties had only one public
trict, 36% of the population has access to safe water4 (Min- secondary school, which was selected by default. In each of
istry of Water and Environment, 2020), the biggest source of the selected schools, a list of children aged 11-17 years was
water are shallow wells, and this is followed by deep bore- constructed. The list comprised of children from grade five to
holes. Water from many groundwater sources in the district grade seven for primary school, and grade one to grade three
is saline (Andersson & Johansson, 2002; Ssentaba, 2009). for secondary schools. Twenty-five pupils were chosen from
The safe water sources that are functional in the district range each of the primary schools and one hundred chosen from
between 78 and 83% (GoU, 2016). The district has a popu- each of the two secondary schools. A sample of 405 children
lation of 518,008, which is predominantly rural with subsis- were interviewed at their respective schools upon consent
tence livelihoods. from their parents and school administrators. The focus group
discussions were disaggregated by sex. For these, eight to
ten children were purposively selected for a group discussion

2 According to the Joint Monitoring Programme, the safely managed water service is at the top of the ladder, this is where drinking water is obtained from an improved water source, located
on the premises, available when needed and is free of faecal and priority chemical contamination. The next is the basic service level, where drinking water is from an improved source
where the collection time is not more than 30 minutes for a round trip including queuing. The next is the limited-service level where drinking water is from an improved source where
collection time exceeds 30 minutes for a round trip to collect water including queuing. The next level, Unimproved service- drinking water is from an unprotected dug well or unprotected
spring. At the bottom of the ladder, is the no service level where drinking water is collected directly from a river, dam, lake, pond, stream, canal or irrigation channel.
3 This refers to Uganda’s dry land area that stretches along a broad swath across the country from the southwest to the northeast encompassing 84,000 square kilometres. The dry lands cover
more than a dozen of the country’s 110 districts. They include Ntungamo, Mbarara, Rakai, Sembabule, Mubende, Kiboga, Nakaseke, Luwero, Nakasongola, Kamuli, Soroti, Katakwi,
Nakapiripirit, Moroto, and Kotido Districts. The area receives irregular and low rainfall, experiences periodic and extreme drought and is considered to encompass some of the country’s
most fragile ecosystems(Stark, 2011).
4 This is water that is free from pathogens and elevated levels of toxic substances at all times(Joint Monitoring Programme, 2020).
5 The study was cleared for ethical appropriateness by the Makerere school of social sciences research ethics committee (MAKREC). It was further cleared by the Uganda National Council
of Science and technology. Before the survey, the study participants’ parents consented, the children also assented before the face to face structured interviews, that were conducted by well-
trained social sciences graduates.

Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:15

within a village. Half of the children’s groups were for girls Besides the borehole, some children collected water from the
and another half for boys; a total of twenty-four discussions protected springs, and for most of these, the water was con-
were conducted, four of which were with women. The survey sidered to be of acceptable quality except for the distance and
data was entered in EpiData and analyzed using the Statisti- the long queues at these points.
cal Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The inde-
In terms of water sources, most children that fetched from the
pendent samples T-test was carried out on some of the data
open-sources (unprotected springs, valley dams, the lake)
analyzed. The data from the focus group discussions were
were from Kagamba. These were greatly disadvantaged in
analyzed using NVivo 12 software.
terms of access and experiencing associated risks. The open
sources are susceptible to drying up, contamination and
4 RESULTS hence the poor quality of water. These children also faced a
bigger risk of drowning. The majority of children in Lwanda
There were slightly more female respondents to the survey compared to Kagamba accessed water from improved water
than males; more from the older age category and most of sources, and hence experienced no risk of drowning and col-
them were from secondary school. Most children were from lecting contaminated water. These children, however, faced a
midsized households. higher likelihood of bullying while at the waterpoint because
of the long waiting time. Nonetheless, they accessed better
quality water and hence had a reduced risk of contracting
Table1: Selected background characteristics of the water-related illnesses.
survey respondents

Respondents’ Characteristics % n Photograph 1: Comparison of water source types.

Subcounty Kagamba 49.6 201
Lwanda 50.4 204
Sex Male 47.7 193
Female 52.3 212
Age 11-13 years 38 154
14-17 years 62 251
School-level Primary School 48.1 195
Secondary school 51.9 210
Size of household Small (1-5 people) 34.8 141
Medium size (6-10 people) 61.5 249
Big (11+ people) 3.7 15 Point water source (Borehole) in Open water source water (dam) in
Lwanda Kagamba

Water provisioning: The Water Sources Rainwater harvesting was an additional source of water
Most children in Kagamba sub-county fetched water from during the rainy season for many households. However, one
the lake (90.4%) whereas in Lwanda sub-county most chil- half of the sampled children reported supplementing the har-
dren fetched from the borehole (83.5%). vested water even on a good rainy day with water from other
sources. This implies that some children fetched water daily
no matter the season. This was because many households did
Table 2: Showing the main household water source not have storage tanks or big storage containers for the water
from the rain harvest. Additionally, whereas some houses had
Kagamba Lwanda Overall
Source (%) (%) n (%)
artificial, permanently fixed water harvesting systems, other
households had a temporary/improvised system. The impro-
Valley Dam 52 48 123 30.4 vised system, used by several households is not as efficient
Lake 90.4 9.6 104 25.7 as the permanent one in harvesting the water. Photograph 2
shows both systems.
Borehole 16.5 83.5 79 19.5
Unprotected spring 46.7 53.3 60 14.8
Protected spring - 100 20 4.9
Gravity flow/water tap 12.5 87.5 16 4.0
Swamp - 100 3 0.7

6 Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:1

Photograph 2: Domestic water harvesting systems. The review of the local safe water access figures as shown in
Table 3 revealed a big disparity between the two sub-coun-
ties, in terms of water sources and their functionality.

Permanent Improvised

Table 3 Indicating available safe water sources and functionality status in the study sub-counties6

Kagamba Lwanda
Source of Water Tot. number of points Functional 7
Nonfunctional No. of points Functional Nonfunctional8
Shallow wells 04 04 - 62 42 20
Deep boreholes 02 02 - 17 11 06
Rainwater harvesting tanks 135 131 04 34 30 04
Protected springs - - - 13 12 01
Valley tanks - - - 01 01 -
PSP kiosk/tap stands - - - 06 06 -
Source: Uganda Water Supply Atlas (Ministry of Water and Environment, 2019)

Table 4: Chores mostly performed by children

Reported Chores by Children Gender Subcounty Overall

Boys Girls Kagamba Lwanda % n
Fetching water 47.5 52.5 50.3 49.7 98.3 398
Washing utensils 40 60 46.4 53.6 65.4 265
Cooking food 32.3 67.7 48 52 64.9 263
Farm work/digging 56.4 43.6 52.3 47.7 53.8 218
Washing clothes 29.3 70.7 48 52 48.9 198
Collecting wood 46.1 53.9 51.7 48.3 44.4 180
Cleaning the compound 35.6 64.4 46.2 53.8 32.6 132
Cleaning the house 30.7 69.3 43.3 56.7 31.4 127
Looking after animals 72 28 64 36 18.5 75
Taking care of the young 20 80 50 50 4.9 20
Attending to the shop 60 40 20 80 1.2 5
Watering plants 25 75 25 75 1 4
Cleaning the toilet 100 - - 100 0.5 2

6 The figures in the table must be taken with some hindsight because it is possible that even the water points that have been indicated as functional in the national figures, may, in reality, be
nonfunctional. Naiga & Penker (2014) in their study Determinants of Users’ Willingness to Safe Water Provision in Uganda, found evidence to this effect.
7 A water source is functional if at any given time (t) the water is available from the source when a user attempts to draw it(Fisher et al., 2015).
8 A non-functional water source is one from which water is not available for any reason at any time when a user tries to draw water(Fisher et al., 2015).

Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:17

Fetching Water By gender, the majority of those that fetched water by head
porterage were girls (58.1%), 87.75% of those reporting the
Fetching water vis-à-vis other child chores. use of bicycles were boys. Most of the respondents (76.1%)
The access to water for domestic use was central to this study said that they did not enjoy fetching water with a bigger pro-
and therefore, information was gathered from the primary portion of these living in Kagamba. The evidence from the
participants about their experiences with water at home and qualitative data also indicated that boys did not enjoy partic-
within the community. To appreciate the centrality of water ipating in other chores at home, and therefore some of them
in their daily lives, the children mentioned the chores they were happy to fetch the water and leave the rest of the chores
performed within the home, and fetching water was the most for the girls. According to some of the boys, they did not
frequently mentioned chores for both boys and girls. want chores that restricted them to their homes.
Most children fetched water two times on a non-school day Fetching water was, for many children, a drudgery because
(37.8%) and a slightly smaller proportion went to water point of the long distances that it entailed, the heavy water vessels
three times in a day. During school days, the majority of the used to fetch water, and the numerous trips that children had
children (56.7%) reported fetching water in the evening after to make to the water point daily. This drudgery impacted the
school and 29.1% fetched water both before and after school. children’s physical health. For example, some of the children
Only 5.7% of all the children did not to fetch water during experienced body pains and backache from fetching water.
the school days. Carrying a bigger water vessel is in some cases children’s re-
sponse mechanism to reduce the number of trips made. Some
Most of the children (70.6%) fetched water using the 20-litre children also thought that carrying heavy water vessels on
jerrycan with slightly more children in Kagamba using this their heads compromised their physical growth by causing
container. In terms of gender, there were more boys using the stuntedness. The heavy vessel, combined with a long-dis-
20-litre jerrycan compared to girls who reported carrying the tance covered can be an indicator of exposure to sustained
10-litre jerrycan [this is the equivalent of 10 kg in weight]. compressive loading, a risk factor for spine injury (Geere et
Other studies have also shown that when it comes to fetch- al., 2010).
ing water, the males are more likely to carry heavier water
vessels compared to the females (Macri et al., 2015). Over Additionally, for some school-going children, fetching water
half of the respondents that fetched water (n=397), 51.8% had an implication on their education. It resulted in reporting
felt that the vessel which they carried to the water point was late for school when children fetched water before school;
heavier than what they could comfortably carry. Of the chil- missing school in order to fetch water as demanded by the
dren complaining about the weight of the vessel (n=205), parents or on their own decided not go to school on a par-
54.4% were girls. ticular day when they felt they would be too late for school,
which attracts punishment. It also reduces the amount of time
Additionally, of all the children that fetched water (n=397), that children have to accomplish schoolwork while at home
83.4% carried the vessel on their head (head porterage), and or for private study. Children also said their concentration in
more of these were from Kagamba. Only 10.1% of all these the classroom was affected as they always got worried about
children used a bicycle in the process, and a bigger proportion fetching water when they go home.
of these came from Lwanda. A small proportion of the children
said that they carried the water by suspension in the hands; the At the water source, there was verbal abuse, especially for
majority of these were from Lwanda. This is possibly because younger children. This was perpetrated more by the older
the distances to the water points are shorter in Lwanda. ones but also some adults engaged in this. There was, also,
physical abuse while at the water source attributed partly to
the long queues at point water sources. Some children had
Table 5: Reported means of water carriage from the to endure adults jumping the queue, thereby spending more
source time to draw the water.
Means of Carriage Overall There are life risks to the children in the process of fetching
Head Bicycle Suspension % n
the water including going to the water points in the evening
porterage (%) by hands after dark or leaving after dark. There is also the risk of
(%) (%) drowning for the children that fetched from the open water
sources like the lake, dams, and unprotected springs.
Sex
Boys 41.9 87.5 57.7 47.5 189 There were, however, some children (23.9%) that enjoyed
fetching water and the majority in this category were from
Girls 58.1 12.5 42.3 52.5 209 Lwanda. Most of the children that reported enjoying fetching
Subcounty water were boys (61.1%); fewer boys, compared to girls re-
ported not enjoying the fetching of water; 43% and 57% boys
Kagamba 54.5 27.5 30.8 50.3 200
and girls respectively. One of the reasons the boys enjoyed
Lwanda 45.5 72.5 69.2 49.7 198 fetching water was because of the use of the bicycle as a
means of fetching the water. The qualitative evidence also

8 Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:1

indicates that fetching water using a bicycle was enjoyable they will tease if you have always bragged that
and comparatively less tedious; this finding mirrors that of a you do not carry water on your head but use a
study by Macri et al., (2015). bicycle… they find out the truth. Sometimes you
are all shabby, you have not bathed yet, and it is
Over 60% of the children that enjoyed fetching water were
shaming.
from Lwanda. Some of the reasons for enjoying or not, which
they attributed to the interaction that takes place at the water  Participant, Boys FGD, KGB_06_Kigayaza
point especially for the adolescents. Whereas some of the Evene when fetching water was such a drudgery, there was
boys liked being at the water points especially in the evening something enjoyable about it. The fact that children could
when there was a big number of girls with whom they could find some playing time while at the water point was a factor
acquire friendships, other boys did not like fetching water to be happy about for those that enjoyed fetching water.
just in case their girlfriends at school found them at the water Some children, especially those in Lwanda, enjoyed fetching
point shabbily dressed. See Table 6. water because they did not have to move long distances. In
Qualitative data from focus group discussions with boys cor- gender terms, the girls that enjoyed fetching water, it was
roborates the quantitative data as the following voices illus- because they wanted to ensure the availability of water in
trate: the home, which in turn enabled them to complete the other
water related household chores. This corroborates another
I enjoy fetching water because of one reason: in finding that the girls participated more in the domestic chores
the evening when you go to the water dam you that require water.
find that there are so many children at the Water
Point and as you also know…. you may be able to Point water sources: some reliability issues
get a “friend” from a long time ago... of primary In Lwanda, although many children fetched water from
seven and you are in senior four, if you have a point water sources, they mentioned some reliability issues
girlfriend then at the water point is the opportuni- that affected water access. There were commercial water tap
ty for you to talk and catch up. points from the gravity flow system [Public Stand Pipes],
 Participant, Boys FGD, KGB_06_Kigayaza from which some households bought water daily. There was
I do not enjoy fetching water because you might a quality concern in the villages connected to the gravity flow
go to the water point and you find your girlfriend system. All the children who mentioned fetching water from
and when you get to school the next day then the water tap, said that the water contained black flaky parti-
cles. This concern was also voiced in the group discussions in

Table 6: Showing the reasons for not enjoying fetching water

Sub-county Gender Overall

Reasons for not enjoying the fetching of water Kagamba Lwanda Female Male % Freq
Long-distance to the water Point 60.1 39.9 58.9 41.1 54.3 163
Getting water from the water point is tedious 51.4 45.9 58.7 41.3 36.3 109
The risks that are involved like accidents, snake bites, hippos, being 56.8 43.2 58 42 29.3 88
harmed along the way
Heavy water vessel 61.7 38.3 45 55 20 60
Boys that bully me at the water point 48.9 51.1 68.1 31.9 15.7 47
Long queues at the water point 15.8 84.2 47.4 52.6 12.7 38
Reduces my time for play/private study 86.4 13.6 45.5 54.5 7.3 22
Interrupts my other chores 52.6 47.4 42.1 57.9 6.3 19
Chest/physical body pains 61.1 38.9 50 50 6 18
Fetching water many times a day 72.2 27.8 38.9 61.1 6 18
Hilly terrain 68.8 31.3 68.8 31.3 5.3 16
Going to the water point late 36.4 63.7 72.3 27.3 3.7 11
The risk of drowning 44.4 55.6 44.4 55.6 3 9
Other Reason 54.5 45.5 77.3 22.7 7.3 22
*Percentages and totals based on Respondents

Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:19

Lwanda sub-county where children expressed concern about According to the children, in several cases, the boreholes
the impact of these flaky particles on their health. Respond- also broke down resulting into long lines exacerbated by the
ing to whether they had a water problem in the community, weak flow of the water. Some of the boreholes had miner-
a child observed: alized (salty) water, which made it difficult to accomplish
certain tasks especially the washing of the clothes since it
We do not have a big problem because we do
would take longer to lather and more soap. The boreholes
have tapped water, however, the problem is that
in some locations run dry, especially in the prolonged dry
the water contains some black particles and we
seasons, while other boreholes, at times, did supply colored
do not know what these particles are, we may get
water in the rainy season. The low water yield or the sedi-
cancer from them, besides the water also is hard
ment in the water of the borehole can result from improper
it wastes a lot of soap when you are washing the
water point design and construction (Alberta Agriculture and
clothes. When it does not flow in the tap, some
Rural Development, 2013). In sub-Saharan Africa, up to one-
people have to fetch from open water sources, and
third of boreholes are nonfunctional at any given time(Fisher
the water in such is not very hygienic, and also
et al., 2015).
some people defecate around such open sources,
so this makes the water unsafe for drinking, some When the boreholes break down in one village, the alterna-
people might drink the water without boiling and tive is to go to the neighboring village with a functioning
suffer from diarrhea. borehole. Accessing water from the neighboring village was
Participant, Girls’ group discussion, reported not to be guaranteed. It was reported that children
LWD_19G_Sserinya from the village with a dysfunctional borehole would at
times be restricted from collecting water on account that their
households were not contributing the operation and mainte-
nance (O&M) fees. The following statement from one of the
participants illustrates the problem:
The problem we have is that the borehole breaks
down… though not so often but that in the next
village breaks down more often and when this
happens people from that village come to our
A Public Stand Pipe [PSP] in Lwanda village and vice versa, so when you go to their
Trading Centre, Lwanda Subcounty, borehole because you do not belong to that village
Rakai district. everyone would want to fetch water before you.

Table 7: Water sources: the pros and cons

Pros and Cons of source

Type of water source Advantage Downside
Boreholes Water is clean in appearance Frequent breakdown
No daily payment to access Some of the boreholes have salty water
Long queues
Long distances to source
Protected spring Water is clean and safe Long queues
No daily payment for access Long distances to source
Unprotected Spring No queuing get water Susceptibility to contamination
No daily payment for access Unsafe water
Long-distance to source
Water dam No queueing Poor quality water(greenish/brownish)
No daily payment for access Risks of drowning
Susceptibility to contamination
Long-distance to source
Lake Water availability all year round Poor quality of water
No queueing Susceptibility to contamination
No payment required for access Risk of drowning
Injury from hippos
Long-distance to the source
Public Stand Pipes/tap water Clean water in appearance Payment for access
Safe water Black flaky particles in the water

10 Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:1

 Now when you go home, they will not believe lake where there is no queueing. This finding is similar to the
that someone jumped the queue, such a scenario findings of Macri et al., (2015) in rural Uganda where con-
would be avoided if we had our water source. If gestion at the water points was the major problem for water
we could be helped to get water, it reduces the access in communities with point water sources (see also
workload for the children. Mugumya et al., 2017).
 Participant, Girls’ FGD, LWD_15G_Kiganda An independent samples T-test conducted on the amount of
The analysis from the qualitative data revealed that each of time for a round trip indicated that the children in Kagamba
the main sources of water had disadvantages and advantages. sub-county spent a significantly higher amount of time com-
These are presented in the table 7. pared to those from Lwanda. There was a significant dif-
ference in the reported time to and from the water point for
Fetching Water and the Associated Risks children in Kagamba and Lwanda (t=5.275, p<0.001). The
A number of risks associated with collecting water from average time for children in Kagamba was 28 minutes longer
different sources were enumerated by children. One of the than that of the children in Lwanda. See Table 8 and Figure 1.
risks was the long distance to water points, as indicated
by children in Kagamba. During the dry months, the water Table 8: Mean time spent on the water provisioning
points(mini-dams) nearest to their homes dry up since they process
are very small reservoirs. Therefore, the children walk to the
largest and almost permanent dam-Kyanamirira. The chil- Overall Kagamba Lwanda Boys Girls
dren said that they fetched several times in a day and they Mean time 82.7 96.7 68.6 76.6 88.5
carried heavy vessels. For the whole of Kagamba sub-coun- spent
ty, the most reliable source was Lake Kijjanebalola, where (minutes) to
some children had to walk for more than two kilometres. It and from the
water point
was also mentioned, for example, that if a child went to the
lake at 6 pm, they would get back home at around 8pm, this Mean time 8.8 7.5 10.2 10.1 7.7
increased the risks encountered on the way. A focus group spent
(minutes)
participant observed: waiting to
The first thing with water, during the dry season draw water
when the dams have dried up, we go to a further
water point called Kyanamirira, during the rainy
season the dams are nearer the home, the water is Figure 1: Comparative Time Graphs
not clean, the colour is bad. If you are not from
the community, you cannot believe that people Time spent moving to and fro the
draw and use that water. For us, the dam we use water source
80
is next to a school, school children draw water
Percentage of children reporting

70
from there and they drink it without boiling it. 60
50
The water is very dirty so it would make you sick 40
if you drink, in the dry season we walk a long 30
20
distance to get water. 10
0
Participant, Girls’ Discussion group, ≤30 minutes 31-60 1hr-1.5hours >1.5+ hours
KGB_09G_Kigayaza minutes
Averate Time spent to and fro
Since the study sought to compare the children’s experiences
with water, two study sites on the extreme sides of the water Kagamba Lwanda

plenty-scarcity continuum (see the selection criteria of the Amount of water source waiting
study sub-counties in the methodology), the analysis of the time by subcounty
survey data included statistical tests to detect any similarities 70
Percentage of respondents reporting

or differences. For example, an independent samples T-test 60

50
indicated differences in the time spent waiting to draw water
40
at the water source. As reported by the children, the differ- 30
ence was significant. There was a significant difference in 20
the waiting time between Kagamba and Lwanda (t=-2.362, 10
p<0.019). The children in Lwanda waited eight minutes 0

longer to draw water. The difference in the waiting time is at- <5 5-10
minutes minutes
11-15
minutes
16-30 31-60
minutes minutes
60+
minutes
tributed to the borehole as the main water source from which Waiting time in minutes
most children in Lwanda fetched. The borehole, being a point Kagamba Lwanda
water source, requires queueing. Comparatively, the children
in Kagamba fetched water from open sources such as dams/

Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:111

For most of the children, the time spent for a round trip in- ternative activities, increasing food production and economic
cluding queuing exceeded thirty minutes; the standard pa- benefit. Whereas Gordon (2003) argues that distance to the
rameter set in the Sustainable Developments Goals (WHO water source is of special significance to the children since
& UNICEF, 2017). The children in Kagamba had the least they may help in collecting and carrying water, this gives the
waiting time at the water point. On the other hand, the chil- impression that the children play a marginal role in water pro-
dren in Lwanda spent more time queuing for water since visioning. The findings from this study indicate that the chil-
they fetched from point water sources. They also spent com- dren play a central role in fetching water.
paratively less time moving to and from the source. This is
explained by the fact that Lwanda has a bigger number of Risks at the water point
water sources, and therefore homesteads are at comparative- Children encounter different risks at the water point depend-
ly shorter distances than where the sources are fewer. ing on the type of the source. Children that fetched water
The long distance to the water source was the most men- from open water sources faced some dangers, for example,
tioned indicator of the water problem in the household as well the children that fetched from Lake Kijjanebalola reported
as the biggest reason for children not enjoying the fetching that hippos at times chased them. There were also two cases
of water. The long distance, therefore, results in a negative of drowning that were mentioned in focus group discussions
experience for the children that fetch water, this further con- that resulted from attempting to draw cleaner water further
firms distance to water source as a key dimension of water inside the lake instead of that on the edges.
access. Whereas improved water sources deliver safe water, Provisioning for water also sometimes meant being bullied at
the amount of time spent getting to those sources must be the waterpoint, especially when the children waited in the long
considered. The best scenario for water access is where the queues. The queues were more evident in the places where
water is on the premises; it is available when it is needed the water was from point water sources such as the boreholes
and is free from contamination (UNICEF, 2019; WHO & and protected springs. The children also had to endure delays
UNICEF, 2017). because the adults and the older children sometimes jumped
The longer distance potentially increased exposure to acci- the queue. This was apparently because the adults perceived
dents along the way. A study by Geere et al (2010) established children as having comparatively fewer chores to perform at
that the long distance to the water sources was a big concern home, so they had to draw after the adults. The children ob-
for children and they indicated that if the distance were served in the discussions that they were not happy about this
reduced, it would reduce the tiredness, increase time for al- but could not do anything to change the situation.

Table 9: What Happens at the Water Point

While at the water point…… Kagamba Lwanda Girls Boys N=397

Sometimes I have to fight to draw water 50 50 47.2 52.8 27.3%
Sometimes other children physically abuse me 56.6 43.4 48.5 51.5 24.9%
Sometimes adults physically abuse me 50 50 43.8 56.3 12.1%
Sometimes adults verbally abuse me 57.1 42.9 59.2 40.8 37.2%
Sometimes other children verbally abuse me 56.6 43.4 53.3 46.7 53.4%
Sometimes, older people draw water before me even when I arrive before them 50.9 49.1 55.4 44.6 44.1%

It is evident that both physical and verbal abuse of the Water as an indirect threat to Children’s wellbeing:
children ocurred at water points. The girls experienced the quantity and quality
more verbal abuse from other children as well as adults The indirect threat to the children emanated from the poor
while the boys experienced more physical abuse from quality of water that sometimes resulted in ill-health. Water,
fellow children and adults. Qualitative evidence indi- therefore, for many children was experienced as problematic
cates that the girls also experienced bad touches while due to the poor quality and inadequate quantity. With regard
at the water source. Talking about the challenges that they to the quantity of water, most of the survey respondents
face at the water point, a child observed:
(60.7%) noted that, sometimes, they did not have enough
One of the challenges here is that you might water in their homes. The Pearson chi-square test indicates
find some boys at the water point and they begin that there is a strong association between the respondent’s
touching you (bad touches) and yet they are stron- sub-county and not having enough water in the home.
ger than you, you cannot fight them. So, the boys
disturb us a lot at the water point.
Participant, girls group discussion,
KGB_09G_ Kigayaza
12 Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:1
Table 10: The water quantity situation in the home poor water quality, the children said, was a risk to their health
since it causes them illnesses like diarrhea and typhoid that
Subcounty Overall can lead to their death if they do not get proper medical at-
We do not have enough
water in our home Kagamba Lwanda % n
tention. See Table 11.

Every time 12 03 3.7 15

Table 11: Indicators of poor water quality at the source
Most Times 61 52 27.9 113
Some times 119 127 60.7 246 Subcounty Overall
Indicator of the poor
Never 09 22 7.7 31 quality of water at the Kagamba Lwanda % n
source level % %

X2=11.807, P=0.008<0.05 Presence of small black 44.2 55.8 13.5 43

Particles/organisms/
tadpoles/snails
The majority of the respondents, 80%, said that the quality
of the water from the household’s main source was poor. A Colored water 51.0 49 48.6 115
bigger proportion of the respondents (56.8%) who said this (brownish/greenish)
was from Kagamba and 43.2% was from Lwanda. A Pearson Water source shared with 62.7 37.3 23.5 75
chi-square test indicated a significant association between the animals
respondent’s sub-county of residence and their perception of Mineralized/salty water 74.5 25.5 14.7 47
the water quality as poor (X2=33.227, P<0.001). For those
People step into the water 68.6 31.4 11.0 35
who said that the quality of the water was good, 79% were source as they draw it
from Lwanda; more girls perceived the water quality as poor.
Washing clothes around 88.9 11.1 2.8 09
The difference in the respondent’s perception of the quality the water source
of water can be explained by the differences in the water
People excreting in the 75 25 12.5 40
supply technologies dominant in each of the study sites [see water source
Table 3]. Research has indicated a link between the quality
of water and the water supply technology that is used (Naiga Throwing dirt into the water 55.7 44.3 30.4 97
source
& Penker, 2014). The children in Kagamba perceived in
bigger proportions the quality of the water as poor compared The fishy smell of the water 52.9 47.1 5.3 17
to those in Lwanda. The evidence for the main source of Water source not cleaned 100 - 0.3 01
water for households indicates that the lake and the valley
dam (open water sources) were mentioned more in Kagamba
whereas the borehole and the protected spring (point water Water and interpersonal relations
sources) were mentioned more in Lwanda. The point water Most of the children (88.1%; n= 357) participating in the
sources provide safer and aesthetically better quality water. study said that the water situation in their households affected
The children also revealed the indicators of the poor quality their happiness. One of the reasons was that it affected their
of the water that they obtained from the sources. These indi- interaction with other people in the house. For some chil-
cators include water color (brownish/greenish), existence of dren, water constrained their interaction with their parents
sugar cane husks, polythene bags and other physical waste in especially if they did not fetch water as expected of them,
the source or the vicinity, water being salty, washing clothes the reasons for this notwithstanding. There were quarrels that
from around the water source, and open defecation within ensued between children in the home over prioritization in
the catchment of the water sources. The children that fetched the use of the available water as well as on who should fetch
water from the lake complained that the water was smelly water. Talking about how the situation of inadequate water
(i.e., smelt like fish). affects the interaction between siblings in the household, a
child observed:
The biggest proportion of the reported indicators of poor
water quality were from Kagamba. This poor quality was When you have siblings at home and some of
mostly due to the open nature of the water sources; the them do not want to fetch water, if you fetch your
greenish colour indicating the presence of high concentra- water the older siblings might bully you and take
tions of algae bloom. There is also ease of animals drinking away the water for personal use, so when the
from open sources, dirt is sometimes thrown into the source, older children do not want to fetch, but they use
and those drawing the water directly step into it because the water, this creates friction. Also, these same
of the abscence of any physical structure around the water older siblings they might not want to use the
source to enable proper and safer drawing. Some children water sparingly, this brings quarrelling at home,
said that tomato farmers cultivated within the vicinity of fighting, abusing each other.
the water sources to ease irrigation. These farmers litter the Participant, Girls’ Group discussion,
water source surroundings with the empty chemical tins. The KGB_03G_ KagambaKiyamba

Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:113

Children’s interaction with other people pivoted on the water
as a resource is important as Camfield et al., (2009) acknowl-
5 DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS
edged that the quality of interactions and relationships matter
Whereas much of the literature indicates that the burden of
as much to people’s wellbeing as the quality of their assets.
collecting water lies with the women and the girls (Agesa &
Wellbeing can be about what an individual thinks or feels Agesa, 2019; Asaba et al., 2013; Hemson, 2015; UNESCO,
about his/her life in the present but also what they think their 2019), in this study, most of the respondents said that in their
life will be in future (Bradshaw et al., 2007). Some children homes, children, compared to adults participated more in
perceived the prevailing water situation in their community the fetching of water. This finding is in line with that from
as a threat to their future lives. The perception was based on another study by Mugumya et al., (2017) about domestic
the impact that water can have on their school performance, water collection.
which sometimes entails dropping out of school. Also, the
Some of the children reported fetching water on school days,
situation resulted in the distortion of the health of children
some, both in the morning and in the evening. This implied
due to over fetching water, using heavy vessels resulting in
that for some households, the children must fetch the water,
chronic chest pain that may humper future performance of
even when they have to go to school. The qualitative evi-
manual tasks. The following are two illustrative quotes on
dence also shows that the women depended so much on the
the ways the water situation in the children’s community can
water fetched by the children with some of them noting that
affect their future:
if the children did not fetch water for whatever reason, then
For example, when the child fetches water from a food would not be prepared. The misperception of women
distance, they may be late for school, miss some as bearing the biggest burden of water collection, we argue,
lessons, this might affect their performance. Such may be a consequence of two scenarios; first, it may be a
a child might not continue longer with school due result of the fact that many studies on domestic water provi-
to poor class performance. Also, in the community sioning focus on women, who also answer questions about
when the children especially, girls, go to the water children and water. The evidence from this study indicates
point in the evening they might find boys that will the children participated more in fetching water; differing
tempt them into sexual activity, they might end up with other studies that depend on adult respondents for in-
pregnant and drop out of school since no parent formation about children’s participation. Such studies, it has
can pay school fees for someone pregnant. This been argued by other scholars (Ben-Arieh, (2010); de Leeuw
means that for such a child, their future dreams & Borgers, (2004); Gordon, (2003) may underrepresent or
might not be fulfilled. underreport the magnitude of child participation in water col-
Participant, Girls’ discussion group, lection. Secondly, it may result from the attribution of most
LWD_17G_Lumbugu domestic chores to the women, and because water is very
central to these chores, the women do take a bigger credit for
For me, I think that when a young child is asked water collection.
to take a very heavy vessel to the water point, they
may get chronic chest pain, you can never be sure The children largely experienced water as a problem in terms
that everyone will succeed in education; when of the quantity and quality. The energy expended in obtaining
such a child drops out of school, they get back to it (workload), the cost in terms of time spent on water collec-
the village but they cannot even do manual labour tion, the risks involved in collection of water, the actual and
for survival, this makes life extremely hard, this potential impact on intrahousehold interactions [relational
affects their future life. wellbeing], the effects on children’s happiness, education
and health all combine to impact on the children’s wellbe-
Participant, Boys’ discussion group,
ing. All the various ways in which the children experienced
KGB_06B_Kigayaza
water has an implication for their growing up as well as the
The negative experience for some children related to poor way that society views them as they aspire and transition into
body hygiene because of the quality and quantity of water adulthood.
available, this tended to affect more the girls than boys. There
Aggregately, the water situation in the study area posed a
was almost total consensus that the hygiene of the girl child is
big threat to children’s wellbeing. The long distances have
more affected because of the physiology of their bodies and
implications for children. It resulted in, for some children,
the biological processes such as menstruation that necessitate
having to fetch water in the early evenings (after dark) with
high hygiene levels. The evidence from the qualitative find-
increased risks of getting involved in accidents and sexual
ings indicates that even the boys affirmed to taking longer
abuse for the girl children. There was also less or no time
without bathing due to the unavailability of water at home.
for playing, private study, a big workload, limited amount of
water available for use. For many, also, the situation meant

14 Innocent R Kamya et al. 2021. J of Gender and Water. 8:1

physical punishment from their parents; both direct and indi-
rect for delays at the water point or failure to fetch the water.
6 CONCLUSION
The other sanctions given also posed a risk to the lives of the
This study indicates that the lives of most children are im-
children. The children’s attendance at school and concentra-
pacted by water scarcity and their encounter with water as a
tion in class get affected by their experience with water.
resource is relatively a negative experience. Those children
The poor quality of water, mainly resulting from the open in the more water-scarce subcounty experience this in greater
nature of the water sources, has implications for the health magnitude. In gender terms, the girls bore a slightly bigger
wellbeing of the children. It results in water-related illnesses proportion of the experience. For most of the children, theirs
like diarrhea, bilharzia, and others resulting from constrained is a childhood variegated with difficulties rotating around
body hygiene. The long distances resulted in carrying heavy water. Their socialization, childhood life chances and inter-
water vessels and subsequently led to headache, chest pain personal relations are variously impacted by the water scar-
and back pain. A different study about children suggested city in their households and the community. This kind of
a potential relationship between water carrying and symp- childhood, requires protection through resource access and
toms of musculoskeletal disorders like pain and movement utilization, specifically through the improvement of water
dysfunction (Geere et al., 2010). For the study site that had access, quality and quantity.
gravity flow taps, the black flaky particles in the water were
an issue of concern since this is indicative of a quality of
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