Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2014, 6, 1297-1315 Published Online October 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jwarp http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jwarp.2014.614120 Water Resources of Uganda: An Assessment and Review Francis N. W. Nsubuga1,2*, Edith N. Namutebi3, Masoud Nsubuga-Ssenfuma2 1Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa 2National Environmental Consult Ltd., Kampala, Uganda 3Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kampala, Uganda Email: *
[email protected] Received 1 August 2014; revised 26 August 2014; accepted 18 September 2014 Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Water resources of a country constitute one of its vital assets that significantly contribute to the socio-economic development and poverty eradication. However, this resource is unevenly distri- buted in both time and space. The major source of water for these resources is direct rainfall, which is recently experiencing variability that threatens the distribution of resources and water availability in Uganda. The annual rainfall received in Uganda varies from 500 mm to 2800 mm, with an average of 1180 mm received in two main seasons. The spatial distribution of rainfall has resulted into a network of great rivers and lakes that possess big potential for development. These resources are being developed and depleted at a fast rate, a situation that requires assessment to establish present status of water resources in the country. The paper reviews the characteristics, availability, demand and importance of present day water resources in Uganda as well as describ- ing the various issues, challenges and management of water resources of the country.