NATIONAL WATER AND SEWERAGE CORPORATION (NWASC) ARUA DISCONNECTS OVER 4,500 WATER USERS DUE TO UNPAID BILLS

Some students trekking for water after disconnections took effect.

By Dramadri Federick

Arua city

More than 4,500 water users have been disconnected from the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) network in Arua for failing to settle their water bills.

The affected customers are drawn from Arua City, Arua District, and Terego District, where unpaid bills have accumulated for more than a year.

Although NWSC has not disclosed the total value of the outstanding arrears, the corporation says the growing debt burden has forced it to intensify disconnection operations.

Jessica Ondoru, the Manager of NWSC Arua Branch revealed that, many customers deliberately failed to pay their water bills on time, resulting in substantial arrears.

She noted that some consumers remained connected to the NWSC system while opting to use alternative water sources such as privately drilled boreholes.

“We now have about 14,500 customers connected to the National Water system. Out of the over 14,000, we only have 10,000 customers that are active, but the over 4,500 are off supply because they have failed to pay the water bills and they are disconnected. We have people who just choose to drill boreholes or choose alternative sources, but the majority of them are those who failed to pay their bills,” Ondoru explained.

 Jessica Ondoru the Area Manager NWSC Arua Branch speaking during an interview from the regulators’ Office in Arua city.

The enforcement drive has not spared public facilities and institutions.

Arua Main Market was among the entities disconnected by NWSC after accumulating unpaid water bills. The market reportedly operated for two months without water services and resorted to using underground water sources while efforts were made to clear the arrears.

Water supply to the market was only restored late last week after the Central Division Council settled the outstanding debt owed to NWSC.

Following the disruption, Herbert Odama, Chairperson of the Arua Main Market Vendors Association, appealed to the Central Division authorities to work with NWSC to install separate water meters for different sections of the market. He argued that such a move would improve accountability and help regulate water consumption among vendors.

“The issue of water is really affecting us (vendors) here in the market. The only challenge we have is people are using this water uncontrolled because we only have one meter for the market,” Odama appealed.

The latest disconnections come as NWSC continues to struggle with the recovery of unpaid water bills amounting to approximately Shs3 billion. The debt dates back to the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 financial year and includes arrears as well as charges related to water wastage.

Since 2023, the corporation has been battling to recover the money, a process that has been complicated by limited personnel available to follow up on defaulters and enforce collections.

NWSC says the ongoing disconnection exercise will continue across its areas of operation as part of efforts to recover outstanding debts, strengthen revenue collection, and improve service delivery.

Customers with unpaid bills have been urged to clear their balances promptly to avoid interruption of water services.