METGE creates a reliable water source for Namagumba Community
L-R: Mr Godfrey Natwaluma Programme Manager and Board Member Mr Patrick Akudo and Ms Brenda Kakayi Project Officer Salem-Uganda (Implementing Partners) at the handover of a solar water pump to Namagumba community members.
Mount Elgon Tree Growing Enterprise (METGE), serves communities in distributing trees, free of charge and continues to improve livelihoods in the Elgon sub-region. Establishing tree nurseries in communities where demand is high is not without difficulties, is accessing a reliable water supply.
METGE is establishing reliable water sources for the nursery but at the same time providing a source of clean water for the community.
Improving access to water has multiple benefits. It means that seedlings have plenty of water in their early stage of growth, people have easy access to water, and it encourages the planting of trees.
Community members celebrate for having a new clean water source.
Therefore it’s from this need that we construct water points to help the community have access to water for their own use and water for watering seedlings as well.
A case in point is the solar water pump project which has been constructed at Busamira cell, Namagumba Sub county, Northern City Division in Mbale City by METGE. The water solar pump on a sunny day can generate about 600 litres of water which can be of use to the community as well as for irrigating the tree seedlings at the nursery.
During the handover ceremony to the community, Mr Godfrey Natwaluma the Programme manager said, “the installation of this solar water project is to enable people access clean safe water for domestic use and watering of seedlings on the nursery site at Namagumba”.
He adds that “there is a plan to extend the same water project to other communities to help people to improve their standards of living by access to water and through tree planting”.
Mr John Namunya the tree nursery operator at Namagumba waters tree seedlings using the new water pump.
According to lead consultant for constructing the solar water project at Namagumba nursery site from Water and Irrigation Relief engineer Mr Ignacio Rodriguez the project was done in a period of one month and he thanks the community for giving him support and their participation was very crucial to see that the water project is constructed.
He however urges the community members not to drink this water directly but to purify or boil it before drinking. But the people can use this same water to wash clothes, utensils and for cooking because it is coming from natural springs.
According to Mr Kamwada Efulaimu the LC 1 Chairperson of Busamira Upper Cell in Namagumba Sub-county, he salutes METGE for this initiative and urges the community to embrace tree planting and also to protect this water source as because it will help people have access to water.
