The drop in water levels in various rivers in western Uganda is scaring away investors whose projects’ lifeline depends on good volume of water in the rivers.

The manager of the Kamwenge-based Mpanga hydro-power, Mr Charles Mugisha, says his plant has dropped power production from its original 18 megawatts to as low as 3 megawatts since 2016 to date.

“Power production oscillates in rainy season to between 12 and 18 megawatts that is from March to May and August to October while in the dry season it is between 3 and 6 megawatts,” he says.

Mr Mugisha says the Shs27 billion Rwengaju Irrigation scheme upstream in Kabarole District that is currently under construction is a big threat to Mpanga Power downstream in Kamwenge.

“With irrigation, water is drawn and doesn’t come back to flow in river unlike with power dams,” he says.

According to the Western region National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) focal person, Mr Jeconious Musigwire, River Rwizi has dropped about two metres from the original guaging pillars at Nyamitanga which were created in 1970.

The two-year Rwengaju Irrigation Scheme was launched by government in December 2017 and is expected to be completed in October 2019.

The scheme, which is to serve as a model village, was pledged by President Museveni during his visit to Rwengaju Parish in 2006.

The scheme is intended to benefit model farmers in Busoro Sub-county, Kabarole District.

The 22-kilometre project stretches from Karangura Sub-county at the source of River Mpanga to Busoro Sub-county.

Mr Mugisha also is worried by the activities at Kiburara Prison Farm in Kamwenge, which he says have continued to degrade the buffer zone to Mpanga Catchment area. In Mbarara, the District Council chairman, Mr J.B. Bamuturaki Tumusiime, who is also the chairman of Rwizi Catchment Management Committee, says if nothing drastic is done to protect the rivers, they will chase away investors.

“For example, some companies that use water from Rwizi catchment such as Nile Breweries Ltd in Mbarara Town are threatening to close due to the water crisis because River Rwizi water levels are reducing,” he says.

“Mbarara is soon becoming a city any time, but how can we live in a city without water, there are even plans by government to pump water from River Kagera (nearly 61kms away on the Uganda-Tanzania border) should River Rwizi continue drying up,” Mr Bamuturaki Tumusiime says.

In agreement, the Nile Breweries Ltd Mbarara plant manager, Mr George Mbogo, said: “Our business is much threatened by the dropping water levels in River Rwizi, we use a lot of water because beer is 96 per cent water.”

“This plant [capacity] was supposed to be doubled from the current 1.2 million hector-litres of beer per annum to between 2 to 2.5 million hectolitres of beer, but the water levels could not allow us expand the project. The water levels are below our pipe now,” he lamented. A hecto is an equivalent of 100 litres.

Mr Mbogo says they have been forced to abandon drawing water direct from the river and now use piped water pumped by National Water and Sewerage Corporation.

“We can’t pump water directly because our pipe is above the water levels of River Rwizi, this has hampered our capacity,” he says.

Mr Musigwire said there is a lot of degradation upstream in Buhweju and Sheema districts.

“But the recent intervention with the locals through creating earth bans, stone bans and water retention ditches on the hill slopes is giving us much hope of the restoration,” he says.

In Kasese District, the story is not any different. The Nyamwamba Small Hydro-power project in Kilembe faces the same challenges as those on rivers Mpanga and Rwizi.

“We do not often get 100 per cent production throughout the year because of water reduction levels, but we shall produce at 3 megawatts not 9.2 megawatts. Currently, we are working at 1.3 megawatts because water is not enough,” Mr Tody Lenihan, the president and chief executive officer for South Asia Energy Management Systems, said recently at the commissioning of the plant.

Mr Lenihan says the major challenges faced are the dropping water levels and the floods but he says the later has been addressed.

He says the project will benefit at least 6,000 homesteads around the Nyamwamba valley in Kilembe only if the water levels are constant since power largely depends on water levels in the river.

“I can’t assure people that our power will not be off because we depend on the river for water, where water is enough we shall produce but once it reduces we shall have no option” he says.