Water governance in small towns at the rural-urban intersection: the case of Bushenyi-Ishaka, Uganda Ramkrishna Paul MSc Thesis WM-WQM.18-14 March 2018 Sketch Credits: Ramkrishna Paul Water governance in small towns at the rural-urban intersection: the case of Bushenyi-Ishaka, Uganda Master of Science Thesis by Ramkrishna Paul Supervisor Dr. Margreet Zwarteveen Mentor Dr. Jeltsje Kemerink - Seyoum Examination committee Dr. Margreet Zwarteveen, Dr. Jeltsje Kemerink – Seyoum, Dr. Janwillem Liebrand This research is done for the partial fulfilment of requirements for the Master of Science degree at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands Delft March 2018 Although the author and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education have made every effort to ensure that the information in this thesis was correct at press time, the author and UNESCO- IHE do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. © Ramkrishna Paul 2018. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Abstract Water as it flows through a town is continuously affected and changed by social relations of power and vice-versa. In the course of its flow, it always benefits some, while depriving, or even in some cases harming others. The issues concerning distribution of water are closely intertwined with the distribution of risks, at the crux of which are questions related to how decisions related to water allocation and distribution are made. Considerable amount of research has been done in highlighting the complexities of such decisions and produced inequities in the urban centres. However, very limited empirical based research is done on how these inequities are produced with respect to the flows of water and the distribution of risks in the context of a small town. Small towns are typically transitional entity between rural and urban areas, often characterized by the dynamics of rapid population growth and institutional change. With respect to water management, often the approaches followed are replica models used either in big cities or in small rural villages which either become less efficient or relatively more complex in the context of a small town. Based on qualitative research interviews, in this research study I attempt to understand what is particular about water service provision and about everyday water use practices in small towns. Specifically, this research aims to contribute to the understanding of production and distribution of water related risks from the water users perspective. For this study, Bushenyi-Ishaka a small town in Uganda was selected as a case study. In the town I selected one most vulnerable area, Masya located in the peripheral parts and one less vulnerable area, Katungu located in the central part of the town to study the production and distribution of water related risks. Comparing both the areas it was seen that water users of Masya are vulnerable to water related risks mainly produced as a result of not having piped water supply. Water users in Masya are not connected to the main piped network not only due to the geographic location of the area, but is influenced by the perceptions of few water utility staff members in key positions. Water users in Masya thus currently depend on protected and unprotected springs, while the water users in Katungu are mostly dependent on piped water supply. Apart from this often the residents of Masya and to less extent in Katungu also use water from the wetlands for various purposes, sometimes even practice farming in the wetlands. This ongoing encroachment is one of the major factors contributing towards the drying up of Nyaruzinga Wetland, which is the raw water source for the town. Highlighting the interconnected flows in the town, I show how excluding neighbourhoods like Masya from the piped system can no longer be ignored and needs to be connected to the piped network. In terms of water management in Bushenyi-Ishaka, the town has a combination of both ‘urban’ (piped water systems) and ‘rural’ (spring system) water supply technologies. Continuously shifting from being a rural into an urban area, over the past years the town has seen an increase in urban water supply system. This shift has also affected the social dynamics of the area in terms of management approach. The conventional community based approach often considered ‘rural’ in nature is shifting towards a more ‘urban’ approach characterized by private household connections. Emphasizing on this transition I show the complexity of water management in Bushenyi-Ishaka as a small town which is neither completely rural nor completely urban, rather lies at the rural-urban intersection, where both the rural and urban dynamics co-exist. i Acknowledgement Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Dr. Margreet Zwarteveen, not only for her valuable feedback and guidance during the course of my research work, but also for introducing water governance as a topic to us and the complex social dynamics involved in water management. Coming from an engineering background and foraying into the territory of water governance, I would not have been able to conduct a research focusing on the social dynamics involved in daily water use practices without the support of my mentor, Dr. Jeltsje Kemerink - Seyoum. I am lucky to be mentored by you and thank you for being patient with me and for your critical feedback and guidance throughout the research period. I would also like to extend my sincere gratitude towards the IHE-Delft colleagues involved in the SMALL project and also the project partners in Uganda. Specifically I would like to thank Professor Frank Kansiime, Professor Dauda Waiswa Batega, Gerald Ahabwe and Charles Niwagaba from Makerere University, Uganda for your guidance, support and hospitability in Uganda. I am thankful to the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) staff members particularly Christopher Kanyesigye and Joseph Ndegeya for making my stay in Uganda comfortable. My special thanks to all the NWSC staff members of Bushenyi-Ishaka without whom it would not have been possible to carry out this research. Thank you all for being a friend and being my family in Bushenyi-Ishaka. I would also like to thank the residents of Masya and Katungu for being supportive and providing me with the empirical data which is the foundation of this research. Finally, I would like to thank my family members and my friends for your endless love and continuous support throughout this journey. ii Table of Contents List of Figures v List of Tables vi List of Boxes vii Abbreviations viii Introduction 1 1.1. Background 1 1.2. Problem statement 3 1.3. Research objective 4 1.4. Research questions 4 Literature Review 5 2.1. Political ecology 5 2.1.1. Bricolage 6 2.1.2. Agency 7 2.1.3. Inequality 8 2.2. Water risks 9 2.2.1. Risks related to water quantity 10 2.2.2. Risks related to water quality 11 2.2.3. Risk management 12 2.2.4. Political ecology of risks 13 Methodology 15 3.1. Epistemological considerations 15 3.2. Research approach 16 3.3. Data management 18 3.4. Data collection and analysis 18 Small-town: Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality 25 4.1. A Town Council to Municipality 25 4.2. Changes in water and sanitation infrastructure 27 4.3. Sources of water 29 4.3.1. Wetland 29 4.3.2. Piped water supply 30 4.3.3. Groundwater 30 4.4. Water sector policy and legal frameworks 31 4.4.1. The Water Act 1995 31 4.4.2. The National Water and Sewerage Corporation Act 1995 32 4.4.3. The Local Government Act 1997 33 4.4.4. The National Water Policy 1999 34 iii Masya: Most Vulnerable Area 36 5.1. Who are the water users? 36 5.2. Land management system 37 5.3. Agriculture and water related risks 39 5.4. Sources of water 42 5.4.1. Unprotected spring – Fred’s land 43 5.4.2. Unprotected spring – Boaz’s land 45 5.4.3. Protected spring – Prosper’s land 46 5.4.4. Protected spring – Karufiire’s land 48 5.4.5. Rainwater Harvesting 51 5.5. Daily water use practices and related risks 52 Katungu – Area less vulnerable towards water risks 57 6.1. Who are the water users? 57 6.2. Piped water supply: the primary water source 59 6.2.1. Hydraulically connected water users 62 6.2.2. Unreliable water supply and associated risks 64 6.2.3. Quality of piped water supply and associated risks 69 6.2.4. Piped water supply – a blessing 71 Discussion and Conclusion 74 7.1. Reflections 79 References 82 Appendices 93 Selection of areas – Matrix and Secondary Criteria 93 Water user interview guidelines 100 MSc Thesis Supervision Agreement 102 Research Ethics 108 iv List of Figures Figure 1: Rural-Urban intersection: placement of small towns (adapted from Hopkins, 2003) ......................... 1 Figure 2: Discussion with the Senior Town Planner, Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality; Archival records – Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipal Health Centre .............................................................................................. 20 Figure 3: Preliminary discussions during reconnaissance visits; Road connectivity in certain parts of the town ............................................................................................................................................................... 21 Figure 4: Bushenyi-Ishaka water distribution overview map highlighting the most vulnerable and less vulnerable area (Image Source: Water distribution – NWSC, Bushenyi-Ishaka; Overlay image source: Google Earth Pro) ................................................................................................................................... 21 Figure 5: Bushenyi-Ishaka Municipality (Source: Municipal Development Plan 2015-2020) ........................... 26 Figure 6: Pit latrine ......................................................................................................................................... 28 Figure 7: Image highlighting encroachment of Nyaruzinga Wetland over the period 2008-2016 ...................