Caught in the middle? Access to water in the rural to urban transformation of Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality, Uganda

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the relatively few empirical studies done on how processes of urbanization affect water supply in smaller towns by providing an in-depth case study of Bushenyi-Ishaka municipality in Uganda. The paper shows how changes in water service provision as a result of the rural to urban transformation of the area differently affect various groups of water users in their access to water. Based on this research, the authors question the process of categorization and labelling in public service delivery, especially rigidly distinguishing between urban and rural water infrastructures and management models, as it often (re)produces binaries and potentially creates structural inequities. Building further on literature focusing on understanding and dealing with complexity, the paper calls for more empirical research to document everyday practices of providing and accessing water in changing environments in the hope to ultimately inform more effective policy interventions that aim for equity in water distributions.

Enhancing water access monitoring through mapping multi-source usage and disaggregated geographic inequalities with machine learning and surveys

“…The Bushenyi area has experienced and is undergoing rapid urbanisation shown by the steady population growth of 6 % for the past 5 years. Bushenyi town is the administrative centre of the Bushenyi district 24 that is now housing 250 000 people (according to https://bushenyi.go.ug/district/statistics ). As the town is growing and urbanizing more, many households switch to a piped water system that is provided and maintained by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC).…”

Strategies for Achieving Sustainability of Water Supply Systems in Rural Environments with Community Management in Brazil

“…The municipality or state must acquire responsibilities to reduce the urban-rural dichotomy that appears in policy documents. Therefore, this results in making the governance of the resource more effective, establishing more significant political interventions to guarantee equity in water distribution in the communities and outlining co-financing strategies shared by donors, local governments, and community members [15,18,51,52]. It is also up to the state to ensure the effective right to social participation of all social groups, guaranteeing human rights principles and combating social inequalities [53].…”