The National Water and Sewerage Corporation has decried the increased theft of water by both individuals and institutions including police officers.
The Corporation’s Managing Director Eng. Silver Mugisha says some police officers steal water from designated fire hydrants which are meant to keep water for firefighting.
Mugisha adds that currently, 10% of the customers are on illegal water connections, which he blames for the huge losses suffered by the corporation.
“You have heard that there’s always pressure for us to have fire hydrants. So people go to those fire hydrants including those who sell water – some of them just go and pick water from the fire hydrants, even police. Our fire hydrants are under constant use even when there’s no fire to fight,” Mugisha said.
However, the police administration says this is being done by individual police officers, but not police as an institution.
As required by law, the National Water and Sewerage Corporation is required to provide water in the designated water hydrants with enough water to fight fire outbreaks and currently, there are 897 fire hydrants in the Kampala Metropolitan area alone.
