Water crisis hits Barlonyo in Lira

Local leaders in Lira city have raised great concern over the acute shortage of water in Barlonyo. Tom Oyena, the chairperson LC3 of Agweng sub-county says more than 5,000 residents of Barlonyo memorial site in Agweng sub-county Lira district lack clean and safe water.

According to Oyena,  there is only one borehole shared by the residents and two neighboring schools, explaining that locals have to spend hours in queues to fetch water and some walk longer distances to the shallow wells, most of which have also dried up due to the dry spell.

This is after the 19 boreholes and solar panels installed in 2017 by a local Rotary Club to pump the water broke down late last year

Christin Akello, who treks about 3 kilometers from her home to fetch water from the only borehole, says a huge number of locals often fetch water from unprotected water sources in the area including swamps.

Meanwhile, Richard Coxs Okello Orik, the Local Council 5 chairperson of Lira district said the district leadership with support from Otuke Harvest Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organization has started drilling water in the locality and upon its completion, the water crisis will be history.

Barlonyo memorial site is located 28 kilometres north of Lira town in northern Uganda.

The memorial site was built at the spot where the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels on February 21, 2004 attacked the Barlonyo internally displaced people’s (IDP) camp and left more than 300 civilians dead.

Written by Charity Akullo