When water is scarce, there’s nothing worse than watching it go to waste. But without a reliable water storage system, the Juru Greenhouse in Nakivale can’t save up water. This makes it difficult to water all their crops, especially in drier seasons.
Consistent water access and storage are common problems in Ugandan refugee settlements; even when farmers are able to get water from the lake or rainfall, there’s no secure way to store it up. To help remedy this problem, we bought a 10,000-liter water tank for the Juru Greenhouse.
The team in Juru estimates they lost approximately 6,000 USD worth of crops last year. A huge part of this loss had to do with thirsty plants. The standard method of watering, which involved carrying water up the hill from Lake Nakivale each day, simply couldn’t reach enough of the crops. While we worked on an easier and faster way to get water up the hill yesterday, a water tank will add stability and security.
Prince, the chairperson for the greenhouse project, said, “the water tank is going to greatly increase our work and outputs. Carrying water from the river manually is too much work and a tank will help ease our workload. It will also help our plants grow more and provide us greater confidence in our harvest.”
