10 - Irrigation and hydro-power potential. Water needs in Uganda, an overview

Summary

Introduction

This brief contribution to the debate on the utilization of the Nile aims to highlight the technical information available on Uganda's water requirements in relation to that river.

Uganda, with its total land area of 236,810 km², lies wholly in the White Nile Basin. The country's hydrology is dominated by the River Nile and its associated lake system. Open water covers 36,278 km² or 15 per cent of the land, and another 5,183 km² or 2.2 per cent is covered by swamps. To Uganda, therefore, the Nile is not only a source of water for all sectors of the economy, but the environment upon which everything depends.

Socio-economic factors

Uganda's economy, like that of most third-world countries, is heavily dependent on the export of raw materials – mainly coffee – for which prices on the world market have been decreasing over the past decade, while it imports finished goods and services at ever increasing prices. The population, currently estimated at sixteen million, is increasing at a high rate close to four per cent per annum which is putting great pressure on the land and other natural resources, including water.

In addition to the irrigation potential, the Nile system offers Uganda a great source of hydro-electric power for its domestic needs and for export. Although Uganda is less rich in mineral deposits such as gold and petroleum, it has a large natural resource in water, and it is on this that its future socioeconomic development will depend.